This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Most minority women distrusted health care industry
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
2009 AACR Science of Cancer Health Disparities Conference
Results from a survey of 341 minority women showed high levels of distrust in health care providers, and found that those with the highest levels of mistrust were the least likely to undergo breast cancer screening.
Researchers administered the Medical Mistrust Index to 116 black women, 113 Latin-American women and 112 Arab-American women. Data on breast cancer were also collected.
Karen P. Williams, PhD, an assistant professor in the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State, presented the results at the 2009 AACR Science of Cancer Health Disparities Conference.
“The purpose of the study was to analyze trust in relation to breast cancer screening behaviors,” Williams said during a press conference. “We hypothesized that higher levels of trust were predictive of breast cancer screening.”
Overall, 67% of women surveyed said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “Patients have sometimes been deceived or mislead by health care organizations.”
Black women were found to be the most mistrustful. Thirty-nine percent of black women strongly agreed with the statement “Health care organizations don’t always keep patient information totally private” compared with 15% for Latin-American and 9% for Arab-American women.
As expected, women who evidenced the least trust were also the least likely to get screened. The researchers found that 44% of women who had never received a clinical breast exam agreed with the statement “Health care organizations have sometimes done harmful experiments on patients without their knowledge.”
Among women who had not received a clinical breast exam within the previous 12 months, 64% agreed with the statement, “Sometimes I wonder if health care organizations really know what they are doing” compared with 47% for women who had undergone recent screening. – by Jason Harris
For more information:
- Williams KP. #B76. Presented at: the 2009 AACR Science of Cancer Health Disparities Conference; Feb. 3-6, 2009; Carefree, Ariz.