However, there is little information about the attitudes and factors influencing decisions of women at risk for these treatments, or about how ethnic variations in these attitudes may explain differences in utilization. This proposal is for a community-based survey to investigate ethnic variations in attitudes toward hysterectomy, oophorectomy, and HRT among African American and white women, aged 40 to 65 years in Beaufort County, South Carolina. This sample will be supplemented by interviews with 300 women served by the Beaufort-Jasper Comprehensive Health Services, selected for a history of one having had or being at risk for one of the interventions. Over one-third of American women have had a hysterectomy by age 65 years. Almost half of these women will have had an oophorectomy as part of this surgical procedure.
Variations exist in hysterectomy rates by geographic region, income, and education.
While the indications for hysterectomy and oophorectomy are established, little is known about women's knowledge and attitudes about surgical menopause and its consequences, the decision-making process women undertake regarding surgery, or the subsequent use of hormone replacement therapy. Furthermore, ethnic variations in relation to these issues are essentially unknown. During the first nine months of the study, focus group interviews will be conducted with Navajo, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women and men. In depth interviews will be conducted with Navajo and Hispanic women who have undergone surgical menopause in the past three years. Focus group and interview results will be combined with previously validated survey instruments and demographic information for the development and pilot testing of a survey questionnaire.