Developing Breast Health Messages for Women in Rural Populations

In an effort at developing messages that are sensitive to societal determinants and expectations about probreast health behaviors for an underserved population, a qualitative approach was driven by the research question, “What message strategies will motivate Appalachian women to attend to breast health issues and become actively involved in their own breast health?” Based on group interviews with 77 women, two types of messages were found to be particularly motivating: messages that reflect the women's roles as care givers and the self-perceived reality that the women in this population cannot depend on anyone but themselves.