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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Jonathan S. Slater, PhD, Chung Nim Ha, MPH, George A. Henly, PhD, Michael E. Malone, MPH, Annette Bar-Cohen, MPH, and Sarah R. Diaz, MS. Cancer Control Section, Minnesota Department of Health, 717 Delaware St., S.E., P.O. Box 9441, Minneapolis, MN 55440-9441, 612-676-5591, jonathan.slater@health.state.mn.us
Objective: To test the effectiveness of a low-cost population-based strategy for increasing mammography utilization among medically underserved women age 40-64.
Rationale: Low-income women have lower mammography rates than the general population. Finding simple, cost-effective strategies that can successfully recruit Program-eligible women statewide remains an ongoing challenge for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP).
Methods: A randomized trial tested the impact of two mailed interventions on mammography use among NBCCEDP-eligible women in Minnesota. Both the Mail Only and Mail+Incentive interventions consisted of a simple mailing which prompted women to call a toll-free number to access free screening services. The Mail+Incentive intervention offered a small monetary incentive for a completed mammogram. A commercial database served as the sampling frame to target potentially eligible women.
Results: After 12 months, comparison of Program screening rates among the three groups [Mail+Incentive (1.40%), Mail Only (0.92%), and Control (0.69%)] found all pairwise comparisons to be statistically significant (p< .0001). Similarly, first-time Program enrollment rates for the Mail+Incentive (0.94%), Mail Only (0.52%), and Control (0.28%) groups all differed significantly (p < .001).
Conclusions: Direct mail is an effective strategy for enrolling Minnesota women in the NBCCEDP. Coupling direct mail with an incentive significantly enhances the intervention’s effectiveness. Direct mail should be considered as a strategy to increase mammography use among low-income, medically underserved women.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Mammography Screening, Low-Income
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.