Evaluation of Mammogram Parties as an Effective Community Navigation Method

Women of color do not have the same level of access to mammography services as their White counterparts, and this inequity may be one of the contributing factors to the documented racial disparity in breast cancer mortality in the US. The present study sought to assess the effectiveness of the mammogram party, a promising, but under-studied approach to increasing mammography uptake, particularly among under-served populations. The program targeted mammogram-eligible women in community settings on the west and southwest sides of Chicago, gathering basic demographic information, mammography history, and interest in assistance obtaining a mammogram. Women were navigated either through traditional one-on-one navigation or to a mammogram party. Seven outcome metrics were calculated for each type of navigation. We compared navigation outcomes for those who attended to those who did not attend a mammogram party using two-tailed t tests and chi-square tests. We found that the mammography completion rate for mammogram parties was comparable to that for standard one-on-one navigation (65.8 vs. 63.7%), which is more labor-intensive as evidenced by the number of contacts needed to successfully navigate a woman to mammography (10.9 vs. 15.0). Mammogram parties offer a unique opportunity for fellowship and support for clients who are particularly fearful of mammograms or identifying breast cancer. Programmatically, mammogram parties are an efficient way to complete several mammograms in 1 day. Having the option to both navigate women to mammogram parties or one-on-one navigation allows for more flexibility for scheduling and may ensure a completed a mammogram.