Breast Cancer Information System Designed to Foster Increased ProactivePrevention Activities Among Minority Populations, Volume 2. Appendices

摘要

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and the second leading causeof death among women. In the State of Maryland, where the major effort of the telecommunications Breast Health Information Project took place, the incidence of breast cancer ranks the seventeenth worst in the nation (1995 Cancer Facts Figures). Unfortunately, the overall statistics mask the real disparity of breast cancer incidence between White and African American females. During the past 20 years, the prospects of survival for young white women diagnosed with breast cancer have improved, while the prospects for black women, especially older ones, are increasingly grim. African-Americans with breast cancer face more than twice the risk of dying compared with White Americans, primarily because they are diagnosed at more advanced stages of disease. In addition to this alarming statistic, the American Cancer Society's 1989 Report to the Nation on Cancer states that cancer education and outreach efforts have not penetrated poor communities or tapped into the right information networks. The Breast Health Information Project (BHIP) represents a multi-year research effort that assessed the effectiveness of automated messaging information systems in reaching minority and underserved women, and encouraging them to take proactive, preventive care steps against breast cancer.