Health beliefs and compliance with mammography-screening recommendations in asymptomatic women.
Abstract
The utility of the health belief model (HBM) for predicting compliance with the American Cancer Society recommendations for mammography screening over and above demographics, knowledge, physician input, and objective risk for breast cancer was assessed. In all, 615 predominantly middle-class White women (aged 35–92 yrs) were surveyed from 1987 to 1989. A multiple indicator measurement model of the HBM constructs of perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers was verified with confirmatory factor analysis. Physician input alone accounted for 25% of the variance in compliance, and HBM constructs alone, 16%. HBM constructs accounted for 7% additional variance in compliance beyond all other predictors and thus may be a fruitful focus for interventions to increase screening rates.