Development of the Mammography Beliefs and Attitudes Questionnaire for Low-Health-Literacy Mexican-American Women

Abstract

Low-income, low-health-literacy Mexican-American women exhibit poor mammography screening participation and are being diagnosed at later stages of breast cancer than are non-Hispanic white women. No instrument has been available to measure the impact of cultural and psycho-social factors on the intent to seek mammography screening participation in this population. In this article the author describes the development process of the English Mammography Beliefs and Attitudes Questionnaire (MBAQ) and the Spanish Mammography Beliefs and Attitudes Questionnaire (SMBAQ). The Theory of Planned Behavior is the theoretical framework underlying these instruments designed to measure intent to seek mammography screening in low-health-literacy Mexican-American women. The process of developing the MBAQ utilized input from low-health-literacy Mexican-American women and an expert committee. The MBAQ was translated into Spanish and assessed for content validity and reading level. In the discussion, the author explains why the MBAQ and SMBAQ are appropriate tools for use with low-health-literacy Mexican-American women to measure their intentions to seek mammography screening. Limitations of the study and implications for practice and research are presented.