Barriers to Early Detection of Breast Cancer Among African American Females Over Age of 55

摘要

An exploratory study was conducted in which 25 African-American female breast cancer survivors were interviewed. The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify barriers to early detection of breast cancer among African-American females over the age of 55. It was designed to result in the articulation of hypotheses for further study. The literature review confirmed that there are disparities in rates of early diagnosis of breast cancer among African-American women between the ages of 55 and 7O. Based on the findings from the literature review, a semi-structured interview protocol was developed to explore beliefs and practices around breast cancer and breast cancer screening among a small sample of up to 25 African-American breast cancer survivors over the age of 55. For most of them, breast cancer was detected and treated during its early stage. There was a sense among them that breast cancer was not something that the women expected to encounter, even for those with family histories of the disease. Emerging from these 25 interviews were several interesting issues for future research, one of which was relating to spirituality.