title: Tailored messages for breast and cervical cancer screening of low-income and minority women using medical records data.
abstract: Barriers to screening and early detection often result in cancers in low-income and minority women diagnosed at stages too advanced for optimal treatment. This randomized controlled trial examined whether a personalized form (PF) letter containing generic cancer information and a personalized tailored (PT) letter containing minimally tailored individualized risk factor information based on medical records data affected breast and cervical cancer screening among 1574 urban low-income and minority women. The personalized form-letter group was significantly more likely to schedule a screening appointment and to have undergone a Pap test and mammography within 1 year after the intervention than were the tailored letter and control groups (P<0.001 for all comparisons). Personalized tailored letters that contain individualized cancer risk factor information may decrease the likelihood of receiving cancer screening among medically underserved low-income and minority women, but personalized form letters that contain generic cancer information may improve these rates in this disadvantaged population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 5615 Kirby Drive, Suite 610, Houston, TX 77005, USA. mariaj@bcm.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Jibaja-Weiss
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Volk
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kingery
authors.forename: Quentin W
authors.initials: QW
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: J David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Holcomb
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D015709:Correspondence as Topic; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D008499:Medical Records; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D011203:Poverty / Q000208:ethnology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013781:Texas; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D044465:White People / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D014930:Women / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology