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Older Women and the Practice of Breast Self-Examination

Breast self-examination (BSE) for breast cancer is used by only a fraction of the women who might benefit from it, and some studies show that older women who are more at risk for breast cancer are less likely to use it. This article reports a community study of women (n = 528) who were trained in BSE in women's group meetings, provided a behavioral management intervention, and followed for two years. The intervention consisted of monthly postcard cues for BSE and lottery ticket rewards whenever a BSE record was returned indicating a BSE had been done. During the second year, the intervention was withdrawn. Results show that although women over 50 are no more likely to report having done more BSEs than women under 50 prior to entering the study, they did tend to do more BSEs during the intervention year and were significantly more compliant during the follow-up year. A more detailed analysis by age decade showed the highest rates of compliance in both years were for women ages 60–69 and 70–87. An analysis of attitudinal, history, and sociodemographic factors indicated that the only consistent predictor of BSE practice other than age and the intervention was the woman's confidence in BSE.