The research suggests that simple mammogram reminder letters are just
as effective as more complex programs that include letters, tip sheets
and phone calls, according to William Rakowski, Ph.D., of Brown University
and colleagues.
Rakowski and colleagues’ study is also one of the
first to test whether women would be more likely to get repeat mammograms
if they could
choose the type of reminder they received. Their findings appear in the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Most women in the study who were able to choose their
reminder format requested the simple letter. However, they were no more
likely to get
a repeat mammogram than women who didn’t get a choice of reminders,
the researchers found.
Regardless of which type of reminder they received, 70 percent to 75 percent
of the women did get a repeat mammogram. Rakowski and colleagues caution,
however, that the apparent success of the reminders may not carry over
to other health behaviors.
“Although achieving any sustained health practice is a challenge,
the context of repeat screening in this project was probably not as challenging
from a behavioral point of view as for interventions to influence a daily
health habit,” Rakowski says.
The researchers also found that women who lived in households with four
or more people and those who had waited more than a year between their
last mammograms were less likely to get a repeat screening.
The study compared strategies for encouraging repeat mammograms among
1,614 women in Rhode Island and North Carolina. Women were randomly assigned
to receive either a single reminder letter or one of two more intensive
reminder programs. A fourth group was able to choose which kind of reminder
they would receive.
