Implementation of outreach telephone counseling to promote mammography participation

To increase mammography participation, the authors implemented an outreach intervention translating concepts from expectancy value theory into a motivational interviewing telephone intervention that included the opportunity to schedule a screening appointment. Process data are presented from 491 women who had not scheduled a mammogram within 2 months of receiving a mailed invitation from a managed care organization’s centralized breast cancer screening program. A total of 83% of targeted women accepted the counseling calls. Counselors rated 84% of completed calls as either receptive or neutral in tone. Women with prior mammography experience were more likely to be receptive and to schedule a screening appointment during the calls than were women with no prior experience. Topics discussed during the calls also differed between women with and without prior mammography experience. Implications for dissemination of counseling interventions in health care organizations are discussed.