Health Belief Model and Fatalism related to Breast Cancer Screening in Working Women

Abstract

Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in women, with the exception of cancers of the skin, and is responsible for thousands of deaths each year. The American Cancer Society indicates that breast cancer death rates and incidence increase with age. In the United States, there will be 234,190 new cases of breast cancer and 40,290 women will die from this disease in 2015 alone. Among the women who were diagnosed with breast cancer, Caucasian women have a higher incidence than African American women beginning at age 45. However, African American women have a higher incidence rate before 45, and are more likely to die from this type of cancer at any age. It has been said that one in four women in the United States ages 50–74 have not had a mammogram within the past two years. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the relationships between components of the Health Belief Model (HBM), level of breast cancer knowledge and fatalism on breast cancer screening behaviors in working women at a southeastern United States university. The researcher will pay particular attention to those relationships discovered in African American and Caucasian women. The sample for this study consisted of 667 females who were employed at this particular university. The findings of this study revealed that certain components of the HBM (perceived benefits and perceived barriers) and the Fatalism scale (pessimism) have a predictive effect of an individual’s screening behaviors.