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Purpose/Objectives: To test the interaction of perceived risk and benefits and how they impact stage of mammography readiness and adherence.Design: Cross-sectional study.Setting: Community gathering centers and healthcare clinics across Indiana.Sample: 299 African American women who had not had a mammogram in more than 18 months.Methods: In-person interviews were used to collect data on sociodemographics, health belief variables, and stage of readiness to undertake mammography screening. Four categories were created to measure the combined magnitude of high or low levels of perceived risk and benefit, with health belief variables linked to modified mammography screening behavior.Main Research Variables: Perceived risks and benefits, stage of readiness, and mammography adherence.Findings: The lowest rate of mammography adherence was in women with a high perceived risk and low perceived benefit toward mammography adherence (26%). The highest rate of adherence was in women with a high perceived benefit and low perceived risk (46%). Differences in mammography adherence were statistically significant between the groups (p = 0.009).Conclusions: The interaction of high perceived risk and low perceived benefits impacted readiness to undergo screening mammography.Implications for Nursing: Reducing disparities in breast cancer diagnosis and survival requires timely and efficient mammography adherence. African American medically underserved women with high perceived risk and low perceived benefits exhibited a reluctance to move forward with mammography adherence. Interventions are needed to increase the perception of mammography benefit and to subsequently reduce breast cancer mortality rates in that population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensitive measures of neuropsychological function were adapted to a telephone administration format for use in a large survey of quality of life in breast cancer survivors (BCS). Healthy controls (HC) and BCS were recruited from the community and administered the same neuropsychological test battery on two occasions separated by 1 week. Subjects were randomly assigned to conditions, stratified by diagnosis: In-person at Time-1 and In-person at Time-2 (P-P); Telephone at Time-1 and Telephone at Time-2 (T-T); T-P; and P-T. Four cognitive (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Controlled Oral Word Association, Digit Span, Symbol Digit) and two self-report measures (Squire Memory Self-Report Scale, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) were used. The 106 subjects were randomized (54 HC and 52 BCS). Test-retest reliabilities (intraclass correlations) did not differ significantly by condition across the cognitive or self-report measures and ranged from moderate to near perfect (r's .43-.93; p's<.05). Mean scores at Time-1, practice effects (Time-1 to Time-2), and standard errors of measurement were comparable between In-person and Telephone administration formats. Results suggest that memory, attention, information processing speed, verbal fluency, and self-report of mood and memory can be measured reliably and precisely over the telephone.