Developing a cancer prevention programme for African-American daughters and mothers

Objective: To describe how nominal group technique was used to inform the development of a breast and cervical cancer awareness programme for African-American adult daughters and mothers. Design: A qualitative approach using nominal group technique. Setting: A mid-sized city in the Southern USA. Method: Nominal group technique was used with 30 African-American daughters (ages 18-35 years) and 19 mothers (mothers of women aged 18-35 years). Daughter groups and mother groups were conducted separately. Responses were tallied and audio recordings were reviewed to provide context and/or clarity to participant responses. Results: In many cases, daughters and mothers had similar thoughts about what African-American women should be aware of, challenges of sharing breast/cervical cancer information between daughter and mother, and thoughts on what would make it easier to share such information. Many responses centred on elements of the communication dynamic between daughters and mothers, rather than specific content messaging about cancer. Recommendations are offered to inform the development of future programmes. Conclusion: Findings illustrate the potential to use upstream intergenerational communication effectively to relay health information between African-American daughters and mothers. Given that breast and cervical cancers have better survival rates when detected and treated early, and that late detection is associated with higher mortality among African-American women, conveying important health-related information from a trusted source (such as an adult daughter) is an important consideration for addressing the cancer prevention and control needs of African-American women.