Women’s Preferences for Doctor’s Involvement in Decisions about Mammography Screening

OBJECTIVES: To assess women's preferences for doctor's involvement in mammography screening decisions. METHODS: Mail survey of 50- to 69-year-old women residing in Geneva, Switzerland (N = 2216). RESULTS: Women considered that the decision to undergo mammography screening should be made by the doctor alone (5.6%), doctor primarily (42.6%), shared equally between woman and doctor (45.0%), woman primarily (4.2%), and woman alone (2.4%). These subgroups differed considerably. Compared to women in the shared equally group, doctor alone respondents were more likely to be older, to be born outside Switzerland, and to wish to know as late as possible about having cancer. In contrast, woman alone respondents were more likely to report no previous mammogram, to expect bad news from mammograms, and to feel nervous about screening. CONCLUSIONS: Most women wished to see their doctor involved in the decision to undergo a screening mammogram. Nevertheless, notable minorities held other opinions.