Background: Previous research suggests that predisposing factors such as previous screening experience, participation in preventive health behaviors, and knowledge/beliefs about breast cancer and screening influence a woman's decision to make a timely return for a second screen.
Methods: A stratified random sample of compliers and noncompliers to biennial screening were selected from a cohort of 51,242 women ages 50 to 65 years who had their initial screen at the Ontario Breast Screening Program. In total, 1,901 women were telephone-interviewed. The associations between predisposing factors and compliance were estimated separately for centers with and without nurses using logistic regression analyses adjusted for demographics and smoking status.
Results: Women screened at nurse centers were less likely to comply if they thought women should stop having mammograms before age 70 years [odds ratio (OR), 0.39; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.19-0.79], did not consider mammograms very likely to find cancer (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.56-0.95), felt their likeliness of getting breast cancer was below average (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.54-0.89), or believed a high-fat diet was not an important risk factor for breast cancer (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.36-0.97). Women attending nurse centers were significantly more likely to comply if they sometimes had thoughts or worries about developing breast cancer (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.10-1.80).
Conclusions: Nurses at screening centers may reinforce a woman's knowledge or beliefs about breast cancer or screening and as a result increase their compliance to biennial breast screening.