Patricia Y B Talbert*

Howard University, United States of America

*Corresponding Author: Patricia Y B Talbert, Howard University, United States of America

Received: May 29, 2018; Published: June 20, 2018

Citation: Patricia Y B Talbert. “Adapting Champion’s Breast Cancer Fear Scale to Explore the Correlation of Fear and Fatalism Among African American Middle Class (AAMC) Women: A Quantitative Study”. Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 2.4 (2018).

Abstract

  The American Cancer Society postulate breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, except for skin cancers, with an average risk of a woman developing breast cancer is about 12%, presenting a 1 in 8 chance of a woman developing breast cancer. Hence, the purpose of this quantitative study was to explore whether fear and fatalism influence compliance with breast cancer screening among members of a selected target population of African American middle class (AAMC) women. Using a crosssectional analysis, a subsegment sample of 120 AAMC women, ages 35 and older, was surveyed with an abridged version of the Champion Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS); This scale in turn, is based on the Health Belief Model (HBM), the Champion Breast Cancer Fear Scale (CBCFS) and an adapted version of the Powe Fatalism Model (PFM). Results indicated that fear (χ² (2) = 23.49, p < 0.001) and fatalism (χ² (1) = 21.04, p < .001) belief scores were statistically related to breast cancer compliance. These barriers suggest a greater need for health interventions that are culturally specific, with the intention of improving the psychological aspects of health to address fear and fatalism. The social dimension of this change should involve building cohesive physician-patient relationships. This action serves to counteract fear, fatalism and negativism and to increase the level of comfort among individuals who are more apprehensive about seeking health care services.

Keywords: African American Middle Class (AAMC) Women; Psychosocial; Fear; Fatalism; Breast Cancer

Copyright: © 2018 Patricia Y B Talbert. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.