At baseline, all participants completed a 101-item questionnaire
about breast cancer screening behaviours, knowledge and attitudes;
access and barriers to care; breast cancer risk and perceived
susceptibility; perceived severity of breast cancer; social
support; and information sources about breast cancer. The
screening frequency variable was measured as 1 = never, 2 = not
regularly, 3 = every 2 months and 4 = every month. Almost all
items were check-offs, and completing them took about 20 min.
Satisfactory psychometric qualities of all items and scales developed
from them had been established in prior studies (Yu et al.
2005) and in the 2005 pilot work at each of the study sites.
Twelve months later, to evaluate the effects of the intervention,
the items about screening behaviours, breast cancer knowledge,
attitude towards screening, perceived susceptibility, perceived
severity and perceived benefits of screening, and barriers to
screening were repeated.