e routine health maintenance examinations every six months to one year (N=123), 50 percent had PSA screening as part of their routine exams.
Findings offer strong support for the routine health maintenance exam as it relates to PSA screening. Specifically, males are far more likely to be tested for prostate cancer if they are in the habit of yearly or biyearly having a complete health examination.
Comparison of PSA screening use before and after the November 1992 publication of the American Cancer Society guidelines on PSA screening revealed that PSA screening after the publication date was 26 percent, compared with 19 percent before publication, adjusting for health maintenance examination and the length of time for which the patient was eligible for screening.
However, it was found that, all other factors being equal, black men were far less likely than white men to have PSA screening.
The lowered frequency for black men is alarming given that they have much higher incidence than white men of prostate cancer. Several factors may be responsible for this discrepancy including financial factors and discrimination factors. However, it is also possible that some the difference in the frequency with which white and black men undergo PSA screening may be due to differences in attitudes, and beliefs about PSA screening.
And, since the prostate is, of course, intimately connected with sexuality, it seems reasonable to suggest that the attitudes and beliefs that distinguish black and white men in terms of the frequency with which they seek PSA screening may be related to their beliefs about the screening process and sexual functioning.
Putting it another way, the question can be asked: Are incorrect beliefs about the effects of prostate cancer screening on sexual functioning stopping African-American men from seeking routine screening for prostate cancer? The proposed study is designed to answer this question. Specif...