title: Validation of the Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire among African Australian women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire (BCSBQ) has been designed as a culturally appropriate instrument for assessing women's beliefs, knowledge and attitudes to breast cancer and breast cancer screening practices. While it has proved to be a reliable instrument when applied to women of Chinese, Arabic and Korean origin living in Australia, its psychometric properties among women from African backgrounds have not been tested. The aim of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of the BCSBQ among African Australian women.
  
  
  METHODS
  The BCSBQ was administered to 284 African Australian women who were recruited from a number of African community organizations and churches. Factor analysis was conducted to study the factor structure. Construct validity was examined using Cuzick's non-parametric test while Cronbach alpha was used to assess internal consistency reliability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exploratory factor analysis results demonstrated that the African-Australian BCSBQ can be conceptualized as a 4-factor model. The third factor, viz. "barriers to mammography", was split into two separate factors namely, "psychological" and "practical" barriers. The results indicated that the African-Australian BCSBQ had both satisfactory validity and internal consistency. The Cronbach's alpha of the three subscales ranged between 0.84-0.92. The frequency of breast cancer screening practices (breast awareness, clinical breast-examination and mammography) were significantly associated with attitudes towards general health check-ups and perceived barriers to mammographic screening.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provided evidence to support the psychometric properties of the BCSBQ.in African Australian women. The study moreover demonstrated that the use of the instrument can help health professionals to understand the beliefs, knowledge and attitudes to breast cancer among African Australian women and also the factors that impact on their breast cancer screening practices.
authors: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. c.kwok@westernsydney.edu.au.
authors: Cannas
authors: C
authors: Kwok
authors: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. o.ogunsiji@westernsydney.edu.au.
authors: Olayide
authors: O
authors: Ogunsiji
authors: Department of Biostatistics, Singapore Clinical Research Institute, Singapore, Singapore. chunfanlee8128@gmail.com.
authors: Chun Fan
authors: CF
authors: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D044383:Black People; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054521:Cultural Competency; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult