The Effectiveness of Culturally Relevant Breast Cancer Education Messages Tailored for Young Black Women

Research Team: Golda Anderson, Farah Bahr, Tanvi Bhat, Juliet Bonnah, PA,  Aya Laoufir, and Paris Stephens

Advisor: Dr. Michelle S. Williams, Associate Professor

George Mason University, Department of Global and Community Health

Intervention Videos

Explore the intervention videos by clicking on the tabs below. These videos were created following a comprehensive conjoint analysis conducted with young Black women, aimed at identifying the message characteristics that resonate most with this audience. Each video is designed to effectively communicate essential cancer education tailored to their needs and preferences.

Family History

Breast Cancer Facts

What Causes Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Risks

Breast Cancer Signs and Symptoms

Research Poster

Abstract

Background: Black women under the age of 50 have an excessively high breast cancer mortality rate. This disparity is due in part to the higher incidence of late-stage breast cancer diagnoses in this population. Previous studies have shown that young Black women have low awareness about breast cancer and breast cancer screening. Based on the results of our previous studies, we developed a series of brief breast cancer education messages that were tailored for young Black women and were designed to be disseminated via social media platforms. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness our breast cancer education intervention on the knowledge of young Black women.

Methods: Black female college students (n = 32) were recruited to participate in the pilot test. The participants completed a breast cancer knowledge pre-test before watching 5 brief culturally relevant videos. After watching the videos, the participants completed a posttest. A paired samples T-test was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference between the pre-test and posttest scores.

Results: The majority of the participants (78.2%) were upper-level students with a mean age of 20 years ± 1.524. The breast cancer knowledge pre-test and posttest scores ranged from 1 to 7 and 2 to 8, respectively. The mean breast cancer knowledge posttest score (3.97 ± 1.38) was statistically significantly higher than that the mean pre-test score (6.47 ± 1.37) (p <.001).

Conclusion: Breast cancer education messages that are targeted towards young Black women are highly effective at increasing breast cancer knowledge. Given the disproportionately high incidence of late-stage breast cancer among this population, more culturally relevant interventions are needed to increase awareness and decrease breast cancer disparities.   

References

1. Giaquinto AN, Sung H, Newman LA, et al. Breast cancer statistics 2024. CA Cancer J Clin. Nov-Dec 2024;74(6):477-495. doi:10.3322/caac.21863

2. Shoemaker ML, White MC, Wu M, Weir HK, Romieu I. Differences in breast cancer incidence among young women aged 20-49 years by stage and tumor characteristics, age, race, and ethnicity, 2004-2013. Breast Cancer Res Treat. Jun 2018;169(3):595-606. doi:10.1007/s10549-018-4699-9

3. Williams F, Thompson E. Disparities in Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis: Importance of Race, Poverty, and Age. J Health Dispar Res Pract. Fall 2017;10(3):34-45.