Attitudes and beliefs associated with mammography in a multiethnic population in Israel

This article highlights beliefs, attitudes, and barriers that are associated with mammography use in four distinct cultural and ethnic groups in Israel: veteran, ultra-orthodox, and immigrant Jewish and Arab women. A random telephone survey of 1,550 women was performed. Information from claims records concerning mammography use was obtained for each woman from Maccabi Health Services. Of the barriers studied, no one barrier was associated with mammography performance in all population groups. However, the combined measure was associated with mammography use in all groups. Subjective norms, fatalism, fear of breast cancer, and perceived effectiveness were associated with mammography in some of the population groups but not in others. Each population seems to have a unique set of variables predicting mammography use. It is not possible to generalize from one population to another and it implies that information concerning beliefs and attitudes should be studied in each subpopulation before planning interventions.