title: Unraveling women's perceptions of risk for breast cancer.
abstract: Inconsistent reports of the prevalence of risk perception accuracy may be related to the use of different classification strategies. The purpose of this study was to compare two approaches for assessing the accuracy of women's breast cancer risk perceptions. A telephone survey was conducted with an age-stratified random sample of British Columbian women 20-79 years of age without a breast cancer diagnosis (n = 761). A comparison of two methods employed to determine perception accuracy revealed substantial differences between the methods with regard to the classification of women as under- and over-estimators. The study highlights the need for researchers to consider the method used to determine the accuracy of risk perceptions and the implications of using different strategies to assess risk perception accuracy when such information is used in research or to guide interventions.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. bottorff@nursing.ubc.ca
authors.forename: Joan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bottorff
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: Lynda G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Balneaves
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McCullum
authors.forename: Jane A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Buxton
authors.forename: Pamela A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ratner
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hack
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D001955:British Columbia; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*