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Title: Breast cancer fatalism: The role of women's perceptions of the health care system

Author
item HALL, ALLYSON - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
item KHOURY, AMAL - UNIV OF EAST TENNESSEE
item LOPEZ, ELLEN - UNIV OF FLORIDA
item LISOVICZ, NEDRA - UNIV ALABAMA-BIRMINGHAM
item AVIS-WILLIAMS, AMANDA - UNIVERSITY SO MISSISSIPPI
item MITRA, AMAL - UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN

Submitted to: Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/3/2007
Publication Date: 11/1/2008
Citation: Hall, A., Khoury, A.J., Lopez, E., Lisovicz, N., Avis-Williams, A., Mitra, A. 2008. Breast cancer fatalism: The role of women's perceptions of the health care system. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 19(4):1321-1335.

Interpretive Summary: Effective health education and obesity prevention programs must incorporate an understanding of cultural attitudes, beliefs, and experiences. Some research suggests that people may not engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors if they have a fatalistic attitude about their health. Fatalistic attitudes about breast cancer were studied in 958 Mississippi women who were mostly rural. Women with a fatalistic attitude were more likely to be African American, to have a family history of breast cancer, to rate their quality of care as fair or poor, to believe that not much could be done to prevent breast cancer, to believe that breast cancer could not be cured if found early, and to believe that treatment could be worse than the disease. To be effective in rural populations with a low education level, health education and disease prevention programs must address these barriers to health-seeking and health-promoting behavior.

Technical Abstract: Cancer fatalism, which can be understood as the belief that cancer is a death sentence, has been found to be a deterrent to preventive cancer screening participation. This study examines factors associated with breast cancer fatalism among women. We analyzed data from a 2003 survey of women 40 years of age. The survey collected information about respondents' knowledge and attitudes regarding breast health. Analyses compared the characteristics of women who reported and those who did not report a fatalistic attitude. Women with a fatalistic attitude were more likely to be African American, to have a family history of breast cancer, to rate their quality of care as fair or poor, to believe that not much could be done to prevent breast cancer, to believe that breast cancer could not be cured if found early, and to believe that treatment could be worse than the disease.