REVERSE TARGETING IN A MEDIA-PROMOTED BREAST-CANCER SCREENING PROJECT

Background. The American Cancer Society has sponsored community-based, low-cost, Breast Cancer Detection Awareness Projects throughout the United States. The authors hypothesized that these projects tend to exclude minorities and women of lower socioeconomic status-groups with a higher incidence of late-stage disease. Methods. A cross-sectional survey was performed of participants in the 1990 Breast Screening Project in Tampa, Florida. The demographic profile of participants was compared with that predicted by 1990 census data. Results. There were 13,920 women who called phone banks for additional information. Of these, 13,215 were deemed eligible and 6640 completed mammographic screening. Forty percent of participants were having mammography for the first time. Comparisons with census data indicated that elderly people, members of minority groups, and women of lower educational levels were underrepresented. Conclusions. The results of this study support the concept that "reverse targeting" occurs with these breast cancer screening projects, and recommendations for recruiting underrepresented groups are given.