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Leap of Faith Technologies was funded by the National Institutes
of Health to develop a Web site focusing on the importance of
breast cancer screening and early detection. Our goal was to
measure the effectiveness of the Web site in motivating screening
intentions and behaviors among a group of women subjects. To
evaluate the program’s use and effectiveness in a variety
of settings, we provided access to thinkhe@lth.com via kiosks
located at nine test sites in the Chicago area and recruited
a sample of 749 women to participate.
Results showed the Website to be an effective tool for communicating
breast cancer screening information, with significant increases
in measures of attitudes, intentions, knowledge, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control. On most measures used
in the data analysis, the control and test interventions were
equally effective. However, the Web site showed advantages in
increasing intentions to do breast self examination and in reducing
anxiety about getting mammograms.
Among women who reported doing breast-self exams (BSE), the
Website was more effective in strengthening intentions to maintain
a screening regime than were the printed materials. Also, women
who used the Web site reported lower anxiety about breast cancer
screening than women who used the printed materials. With regard
to knowledge, scores of women who used the Web site increased
from pretest to posttest, and stayed consistent over time. Scores
of women in the control group increased initially, but then
decreased over time.
Post-test and followup survey results from test group participants
indicate that the most valuable features of the Web site tended
to be the interactive, personalized ones. The risk calculation
feature was rated as the most useful feature, and was the most
highly used feature as well.
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