FACTORS RELATED TO THE ADOPTION OF EARLY DETECTION OF BREAST AND CERVICAL CANCER AMONG WOMEN OF MEXICAN ANCESTRY AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING EDUCATION.
Contributors: New Mexico State University.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 114
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Administrators of nursing departments should be concerned with developing curricula that prepare nursing students to diffuse knowledge to the community about disease prevention and health promotion. This diffusion study identified breast and cervical cancer early detection practices among the population of Mexican origin women in El Paso, Texas. The study's objective was to identify factors associated with early detection practices. The proposition that income, medical coverage, educational level, place of birth, age, and attitudes predict the early detection practices of Mexican origin women was investigated. The practice of breast and cervical cancer early detection behaviors was defined as the monthly practice of breast self-examination and having a breast examination and Papanicolaou smear within three years preceding the interview.

A bilingual, piloted twenty-item questionnaire was administered to a sample of 400 women of Mexican ancestry in 39 census tracts in El Paso in a stratified cluster sampling scheme. Stepwise logistic regression and contingency table analysis arrived at similar results.

Younger age, more years of education, and higher monthly income were identified as the most important variables differentiating adopters from nonadopters of early detection behaviors. Neither fear, embarrassment, nor preference for a woman examiner were significant. The association with marital status, number of children, amount of medical coverage, and country of origin, however, was questionable and requires further study.

Recommendations included (a) implications for nursing education, (b) application in a nursing curriculum and (c) replication of the study. Nursing curricula should offer free standing courses which cover the entire spectrum of health education, including the innovation-decision process.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-01, Section: A, page: 0051.

Thesis (PH.D.)--NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY, 1986.

School code: 0143.