Testing the Feasibility of a Culturally Tailored Breast Cancer Screening Intervention with Native Hawaiian Women in Rural Churches (Report‪)‬

Breast cancer is the most commonly detected neoplasm among women in the United States and accounts for about 15.2 percent of the nation's female cancer deaths (Healthy People, n.d.). The need to reduce breast cancer mortality is a recognized national priority and an objective of Healthy People 2010, the nation's blueprint for promoting health and eliminating health disparities. Participation of older women ([gt]40 years of age) in mammography is viewed as crucial to accomplishing this objective. Clinical trials of routine mammography demonstrate that this method effectively detects tumors at an early stage, when treatments are most likely to be successful in extending survival and enhancing quality of life (Kerlikowske, Grady, Rubin, Sandrock, & Emster, 1995). Among women ages 40 to 49 and 50 to 74 years, mammography reduced death by 17 percent and 20 percent, respectively, to 39 percent. Survival rates decline with delayed diagnosis; about 97 percent of women treated for early-stage breast disease survive five years or more, whereas only about 78 percent of women diagnosed with regional breast cancer (that is, disease has spread to pectoral muscles and lymph nodes) and about 23 percent of those with distant breast cancer (that is, disease metastasized to brain, bone, or other organs) survive beyond five years of initial diagnosis (Yu, 2009). BACKGROUND