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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Sharon Watkins Davis, MPA, Cancer Information Service, Northern California Cancer Center, 32960 Alvarado-Niles Road, Union City, CA 94587, (510)429-2500, sdavis@nccc.org, Susan L. Stewart, PhD, Biostatistics, Northern California Cancer Center, 32960 Alvarado-Niles Road, Suite 600, Union City, CA 94587, and Joan R. Bloom, PhD, Center for Mental Health Services Research, University of California, Berkeley, 2020 Milvia Street, Suite 405 MC5610, Berkeley, CA 94720.
This study’s purpose was to test risk notification and telephone counseling in a setting where women seek cancer information. The risk notification and counseling procedures were initially developed for sisters of young breast cancer survivors. In this translational research, we incorporated and tested the protocol in the Cancer Information Service (CIS), a program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the nation's primary agency for cancer research. Pre-test interviews for 392 women aged 40 – 79 with no history of cancer were completed by the CIS of California; 200 were randomly assigned to the intervention group and 192 to the control group. The telephone counseling intervention was a brief educational session that provided each woman with the Gail model estimate of her breast cancer risk, a short explanation, and an opportunity to ask questions. Eighty percent of the respondents rated their lifetime risk of breast cancer higher than did the Gail model. On the average, women overestimated their risk by 25 percentage points, and overestimates were greater for those with a family history of breast cancer. A post-test was conducted one month after the initial assessment. After receiving the counseling intervention, women with a family history of breast cancer significantly reduced their risk overestimate compared to their counterparts who did not receive the intervention. This study provides evidence that women with a family history of breast cancer who are seeking cancer information by telephone can be educated to achieve a more realistic perception of their breast cancer risk.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to
Keywords: Breast Cancer, Risk Communication
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Sharon Davis is employed by the Northern California Cancer Center, under a contract for the Cancer Information Service of California from the National Cancer Institute (N02-C0-01115). The services of the Cancer Information Service are discussed in this p