Abstract
Focus groups were used in the development of community-based public health education designed to reduce mortality from cervical cancer among black women in Forsyth County, North Carolina. The educational goals of this National Cancer Institute (NCI) funded project were to increase the proportion of black women, age 18 and older, who obtain Pap smears on a regular basis and return for followup care when necessary.
A series of four focus groups were conducted to help develop the conceptual basis for designing educational messages and materials. The groups were led by a black, female professional focus group moderator, and explored a variety of health-related topics ranging from general, ordinary concerns of daily living to knowledge and attitudes about cancer screening.
The group discussions suggested that health is regarded as very important to the target population, particularly when related to family functioning. Regarding the Pap smear, most women knew about the test, but had little awareness of its role in the early detection of cervical cancer. Fear and fatalism were clearly the dominant, top-of-mind reactions to cancer, and there was little differentiation among sites or types of cancer. Despite the overall pessimism, the groups agreed that early diagnosis and treatment provide the best hope for good outcomes with cancer.
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Mark Dignan, PhD, MPH and Robert Michielutte, PhD are Associate Professors in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University; Penny Sharp, MEd is an Instructor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University; Judy Bahnson, BA and Pheon Beal, MPH are staff members on the Forsyth County Cervical Cancer Prevention Project, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University; Larry Young, PhD is an Associate Professor and Head of the Section on Medical Psychology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University.
Preparation of this manuscript was supported by a contract with The National Cancer Institute, Contract No. N01-CN-65034.
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Dignan, M., Michielutte, R., Sharp, P. et al. The role of focus groups in health education for cervical cancer among minority women. J Community Health 15, 369–375 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01324299
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01324299