Introduction: The Health Care Financing Administration selected San Antonio, Texas, to serve as a national Multi-City Mammography Pilot Project site. The Texas Medical Foundation (TMF) is the lead agency on the project. The South Central Regional Office of the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service (CIS) is a collaborating partner.
Statement of the Problem/Purpose: Only 26% of Hispanic Medicare Part B beneficiaries in Bexar County, Texas, received a mammogram in 1996-1997 (TMF, 1998). The rates are far lower than the Healthy People 2000 goal of 60%. Comadres is a three-year, multi-pronged project designed to increase mammography utilization among older Hispanic women living in Bexar County.
Methodology: One of the parts of Comadres is an ongoing media campaign, including a Spanish-language paid advertising campaign that aired on Univision during popular television shows. The tagline on the advertisement stated “To find out where to get a mammogram in San Antonio, call 1-800-4-CANCER.” The ad was aired during May and October of 1999. The number of calls to the 1-800-4-CANCER line were tracked before, during and after the campaign.
Results: The CIS 800 number experienced a 75% increase in total calls from Bexar County during the project study.
Conclusion: The results imply that targeted, paid television advertisements do reach Hispanic populations and motivate them to call an 800 number for information or referral. This session will provide further discussion of the impact of the paid television advertisements, the types of callers reached, and implications for future media-related activities.
Keywords: Mammography, Media Campaigns
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: National Cancer Institute, Cancer Information Service, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Texas Medical Foundation, Health Care Financing Administration
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: employment, collaboration