Communicating breast cancer risk information to young adult women: A pilot study

Abstract

Objective To examine the effectiveness of a health promotion flyer to increase awareness of breast cancer risk and physical activity as a risk reduction strategy in young adult women.

Methods Young adult women (N = 123) viewed one of five health promotion flyers online and then completed measures of perceived breast cancer risk (PR) and perceived informativeness (PI) and a qualitative thought-listing activity.

Results Differences were observed in PI such that the control and low risk/low information messages were significantly less informative than the others. Qualitative analyses revealed two general themes: message content and flyer design. Additional analyses of the flyer design comments revealed four sub-themes: negative thoughts about the image, positive thoughts about the image, misunderstanding breast cancer risk information, and social comparison. Exploratory analyses controlling for message type indicated that image appraisal predicted PI such that those who commented on the image found the flyer to be less informative.

Discussion Results suggest that the flyer was informative but did not impact young women’s breast cancer risk perceptions. Additionally, the image may have distracted young women from the intended message. Evaluating the acceptability of images used in health promotion materials is recommended before testing the effectiveness of the intervention.