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Biomedical subjects

J Terrenoire

Publications and source records attributed to J Terrenoire.

3 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Relationships among breast cancer concern, risk perceptions, and interest in genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility among African-American women with and without a family history of breast cancer.

There has been very little research exploring the relationships among perceptions of, and concern about, getting breast cancer and interest in genetic testing for breast cancer among African-American women with and without a family history of breast cancer. This study explored these issues among 130 and 136 African-American women with and without a family history of breast cancer, respectively. Women with a family history reported having greater perceived breast cancer risks and concerns than women without a family history of breast cancer. Knowledge of breast cancer risk factors was very poor and correlated weakly with perceptions of risk and concern. In attributional analyses, acknowledging one's family history status was the strongest predictor of perceived risk only among women with a family history. Women with a family history of breast cancer expressed greater interest in genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility than women without a family history, although interest in testing was high overall. Increasing perceptions of breast cancer risks and concerns were related to a greater interest in genetic testing, and this relationship was not moderated by family history status. Attributions of risk and knowledge of breast cancer risk factors generally were not related to interest in testing. Overall, these results suggest that: (a) African-American women with a family history are more concerned about and do recognize their greater risk of breast cancer; (b) knowledge of risk factors and attributions of risk are not directly related to interest in genetic testing; and (c) concerns, rather than beliefs about one's risk, are more powerfully related to interest in genetic testing, independent of family history status.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Computerized prompts for cancer screening in a community health center.

BACKGROUND: We describe the implementation and subsequent use of a computerized health maintenance tracking system in a large, urban, North Carolina community health center (Lincoln Community Health Center) as part of a larger study designed to increase rates of mammography, Papanicolaou tests, and smoking cessation in low-income African-Americans. METHODS: Clinicians from the Lincoln Community Health Center were involved in the design and implementation of the computer system. At each office visit, clinicians received a computerized encounter form indicating needed screening tests, counseling, and immunizations for each randomly selected study patient (n = 1318). RESULTS: Initial clinician compliance rates with filling out the form were 95 percent (mammography), 82 percent (Papanicolaou test), 77 percent (clinician breast examination), and 55 percent (smoking cessation). Cumulative compliance leveled off at 21 months to 65 percent, 57 percent, 53 percent, and 38 percent, respectively, despite multiple reminder strategies. When surveyed, most clinicians thought it was a good reminder system but said they did not always complete the form because of time demands. Costs of adapting and implementing the system were $23,332.08 ($17.70 per study). Per-patient costs would have been reduced further if more patients had been included in the project. CONCLUSIONS: State-of-the-art computer prompting systems can be useful in a community health center; however, even with prompting, clinicians still only addressed health maintenance with their patients about 50 percent of the time. Additional interventions will be needed, particularly in low-income populations, to meet the Healthy People 2000 goals in health promotion.

Adolescent↗