Women's preferences for doctor's involvement in decisions about mammography screening.
OBJECTIVE
To assess women's preferences for doctor's involvement in mammography screening decisions.


METHODS
Mail survey of 50- to 69-year-old women residing in Geneva, Switzerland (N = 2216).


RESULTS
Women considered that the decision to undergo mammography screening should be made by the doctor alone (5.6%), doctor primarily (42.6%), shared equally between woman and doctor (45.0%), woman primarily (4.2%), and woman alone (2.4%). These subgroups differed considerably. Compared to women in the shared equally group, doctor alone respondents were more likely to be older, to be born outside Switzerland, and to wish to know as late as possible about having cancer. In contrast, woman alone respondents were more likely to report no previous mammogram, to expect bad news from mammograms, and to feel nervous about screening.


CONCLUSIONS
Most women wished to see their doctor involved in the decision to undergo a screening mammogram. Nevertheless, notable minorities held other opinions.
University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Public Health, 1530 3rd Avenue S., RPHB 217H, 35294-0022, USA. echamot@ms.soph.uab.edu
Eric
E
Chamot
Agathe
A
Charvet
Thomas V
TV
Perneger
D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010819:Physician's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology