BSE is most effective when performed carefully and regularly
(Fletcher et al. 1990). Therefore, nursing faculty and graduate
students were systematically trained for the study in bilingual
group settings during December 2005. For the intervention
group, the certified Mammacare nurse team member used
Mandarin for training following Mammacare techniques. The
Mandarin-language Mammacare video was used. (This video is
available from http://www.mammacare.com. With their permission,
we converted the video into numerous digital video discs
(DVDs) as the video systems are different in the USA and
China.) A PowerPoint lecture about breast cancer, the importance
of early screening and changing rates in China was translated
into Mandarin and video recorded at the Shanghai site.
Mammacare breast models were used for practice and testing.
The whole process was repeated in Tianjin. During 2006, faculty
and graduate students from Tianjin Medical University and
FuDan University Schools of Nursing used all of these same
protocols and materials in their workshops with the intervention
group community residents. After the 1-h seminar, practice
and testing, intervention group participants were given a specially
designed take-home BSE brochure. This brochure was the
product of earlier focus groups and pre-tests with women 40+
years of age at the two universities in China. Intervention group
women also received a Mandarin-language ‘hang’ tag to record
monthly BSE. (This hang tag is available from the Susan G.
Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.)