TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving access to mammograms through community-based influenza clinics
T2 - A quasi-experimental study
AU - Shenson, Douglas
AU - Cassarino, Lea
AU - DiMartino, Donna
AU - Marantz, Paul
AU - Bolen, Julie
AU - Good, Barbara
AU - Alderman, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a grant from The Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation.
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - Background: It is a national priority to increase breast-cancer screening among women aged ≥50. Annual influenza clinics may represent an efficient setting in which to promote breast-cancer screening among older women. To our knowledge, this possibility has not previously been explored. Objective: To examine whether offering women attending community-based influenza clinics the opportunity to receive a scheduling telephone call from a mammography facility will result in an increase in the number of mammograms performed over a 6-month period. Methods: We used a quasi-experimental design with 6-month follow-up. A contemporaneous population-based survey provided a further control group for comparison. The sample group consisted of a total of 284 women attending nine community-based influenza clinics in a semirural county in Connecticut. All women were aged ≥50 and reported no mammogram in the preceding 12 months. All women received informational literature on mammography. Experimental subjects were each asked if a radiology facility chosen by the subject could call her at home to schedule a mammogram. Mammograms performed were determined by hospital record for participants who received a scheduling call from a radiology facility, and by self-report for all other participants. Results: Mammography use following access through influenza clinics was approximately twice that of women attending influenza clinics where access to mammography was not offered. Using three different assumptions regarding participants whose mammography status was unknown, the relative risks ranged between 1.6 and 2.1. For each assumption the results were statistically significant (χ2=8.51-12.2; p<0.001) Conclusions: Linking access to mammography at community-based influenza clinics can significantly increase the use of mammograms among women aged ≥50. Further studies should seek to confirm these findings and determine the degree to which they can be replicated in a variety of communities. Enhancing preventive health practice through the bundling of services suggests a new strategy to exploit available interventions to improve health.
AB - Background: It is a national priority to increase breast-cancer screening among women aged ≥50. Annual influenza clinics may represent an efficient setting in which to promote breast-cancer screening among older women. To our knowledge, this possibility has not previously been explored. Objective: To examine whether offering women attending community-based influenza clinics the opportunity to receive a scheduling telephone call from a mammography facility will result in an increase in the number of mammograms performed over a 6-month period. Methods: We used a quasi-experimental design with 6-month follow-up. A contemporaneous population-based survey provided a further control group for comparison. The sample group consisted of a total of 284 women attending nine community-based influenza clinics in a semirural county in Connecticut. All women were aged ≥50 and reported no mammogram in the preceding 12 months. All women received informational literature on mammography. Experimental subjects were each asked if a radiology facility chosen by the subject could call her at home to schedule a mammogram. Mammograms performed were determined by hospital record for participants who received a scheduling call from a radiology facility, and by self-report for all other participants. Results: Mammography use following access through influenza clinics was approximately twice that of women attending influenza clinics where access to mammography was not offered. Using three different assumptions regarding participants whose mammography status was unknown, the relative risks ranged between 1.6 and 2.1. For each assumption the results were statistically significant (χ2=8.51-12.2; p<0.001) Conclusions: Linking access to mammography at community-based influenza clinics can significantly increase the use of mammograms among women aged ≥50. Further studies should seek to confirm these findings and determine the degree to which they can be replicated in a variety of communities. Enhancing preventive health practice through the bundling of services suggests a new strategy to exploit available interventions to improve health.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0749-3797(00)00281-6
DO - 10.1016/S0749-3797(00)00281-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 11165449
AN - SCOPUS:0035139376
SN - 0749-3797
VL - 20
SP - 97
EP - 102
JO - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
JF - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
IS - 2
ER -