Publication Abstract

Authors: Carney PA, Harwood BG, Greene MA, Goodrich ME

Title: Impact of a telephone counseling intervention on transitions in stage of change and adherence to interval mammography screening (United States).

Journal: Cancer Causes Control 16(7):799-807

Date: 2005 Sep

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Interventions to improve adherence to regular mammography screening have had conflicting results. Many studies have depended on women's self-report rather than clinical evidence of a mammography encounter. METHODS: We tested the impact of two interventions on a population-based sample of NH women who were not receiving routine mammography to determine if adherence to screening could be improved. The interventions included a mailing of women's health information and a telephone counseling intervention based on the Transtheoretical Model. Participant eligibility and outcome measures were based on clinical events obtained from a population-based mammography registry. RESULTS: Two hundred and fifty eight women completed all aspects of the intervention study. The women were randomly assigned to one of two study groups: 51% received the mail intervention and 49% received the telephone intervention. Among women who received the telephone counseling intervention, 67% percent reported being in either an action or maintenance stage at Call 1, which increased to 84% at Call 2 (p<0.001). Seventy-six percent of women identified barriers to screening mammography at Call 1, which decreased to 44% at Call 2 (p<0.01). The most frequently identified barrier was confusion over the guidelines for screening mammography. At the first assessment time interval, greater than 60% of women were up-to-date for screening mammography in the group that received telephone counseling versus 48% in the group that received health information by mail (p = 0.04). However, women's status as up-to-date fell for both groups between the first and second assessment time intervals. CONCLUSIONS: Tailored telephone counseling based on the Transtheoretical Model can improve adherence to screening mammography, though the duration of this effect is in question.