Breast cancer knowledge and beliefs in subpopulations of African American and Caribbean women.
OBJECTIVE
To examine breast cancer belief and knowledge deficits among previously unstudied African and Caribbean subpopulations and to consider the particular knowledge and belief components that are most lacking in each group.


METHODS
1,364 African American, US-born white, English-speaking Caribbean, Haitian, Dominican, and Eastern European women were recruiting via stratified-cluster sampling. Participants provided demographics and measures of beliefs and knowledge.


RESULTS
There were between-group differences in cancer knowledge and beliefs and within-group variation in terms of which particular knowledge and belief items varied.


CONCLUSIONS
Studying how cognitive factors relate to screening in well-defined minority groups will capacitate interventions suited to the knowledge and belief deficits that characterize populations of diverse women.
Consedine
Nathan S
NS
Psychology Department, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA. nconsedi@liu.edu
Magai
Carol
C
Spiller
Rashard
R
Neugut
Alfred I
AI
Conway
Francine
F
D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D017691:Caribbean Region / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City