Abstract
For many years, research studies on breast cancer have revealed African American women, especially the elderly, have a higher rate of death from breast cancer. The most common explanation for this higher mortality rate is the lower participation of these women in early breast cancer detection programs. This paper examines the medical interviews between older African American women and their primary care physicians in which mammogram screens are discussed. Four themes were especially prominent in these medical consultations: 1) That the primary medical complaints with which patients present at the physicians office are often serious; 2) that medication compliance and non-compliance issues are serious; 3) that many medical interviews are taken up with compliance discovery; 4) that the mammogram discussions are very compressed because of these constraints. This research argues that these factors found in the dialogue between the patients and physicians influences the participation of these women in early breast cancer detection programs.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
33
Issue
2
First Page
12
Last Page
37
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Mosby, Lynetta M.
(2001)
"Elder African American Women and Their Physicians Talk about Mammogram,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 33:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol33/iss2/4
Copyright
©2001 Iowa Communication Association
