Advancing Social Workers' Responsiveness to Health Disparities: The Case of Breast Cancer Screening‪.‬

As members of health and public health teams, social workers can provide leadership in addressing disparities in breast cancer screening and mortality rates. With their professional training in the ecological framework and their concern for equitable, accessible, and culturally respectful and responsive health care, social workers can help communities understand why breast cancer is a public health concern, why the incidence and mortality trends of this disease have fluctuated during the past 25 years, and why their impact has not been shared uniformly by all women. The incidence of breast cancer for all women increases with age and is highest among white women; however, mortality rates are highest among older African American women (American Cancer Society, 2001). Although the National Cancer Institute and other medical organizations agree that women age 50 and older should undergo routine mammography every one to two years (Kerlikowske, Grady, Rubin, Sandrock, & Ernster, 1995; National Cancer Institute, 1997), estimates of breast cancer screening utilization show that participation in mammography screening is typically lowest among groups of women with whom social workers often work; that is, older, low-income, rural, and racially and culturally diverse women (Allen, Sorensen, Stoddard, Colditz, & Peterson, 1998; Montano, Thompson, Taylor, & Mahloch, 1997; Scott Collins et al., 1999).