Characteristics of the Sample and Rates of Mammography
First describes the characteristics of our study sample. Of the 277 in the caregiver group, 176(63.5%) received mammogram screenings. Of the 951 in the non-caregiver group, 601(63.3%) received mammogram screening. Caregivers were younger (56.3 years old, SD = 9.315) than non-caregivers (58.6, SD = 9.222). About 72.4% of the caregiver group had completed some college and higher education, while 33.4% of the non-caregiver group had a high school diploma or less. The majority of both groups reported their health as more than good and not ever having had cancer. The average depression level was higher among the caregiver group (6.291, SD = 3.192) than the non-caregiver group (6.008, SD = 2.959). Two-fifths of participants in both groups reported that their family members have had cancer. More than two-thirds were caring for more than two persons, and most of the caregivers (92.8%) were providing care for less than 20 hours per week. Of the caregiver group, 18.8% have provided care for cancer patients, and 38.5% have provided care for patients who have chronic conditions.
About 18.5% of the caregiver group thought that they were unlikely or very unlikely to get cancer in their lifetime, and about 68.4% agreed that it seemed like everything could cause cancer. Moreover, nearly 26% of participants reported that there was not much they could do to lower their likelihood of getting cancer, and 75% agreed that there were so many different recommendations about cancer prevention that it was difficult to know which to follow. Nearly half of participants reported that cancer is more common than heart disease (43.8% of caregivers and 46.6% of non-caregivers), and when they think about cancer, they automatically think about death (55.5% of caregivers and 57.0% of non-caregivers). About 33% of caregivers and 37.4% of non-caregivers agreed that they would rather not know their likelihood of getting cancer. Most (91.9% of caregivers and 93.9% of non-caregivers) participants in both groups reported that they were not extremely worried about getting cancer. About 67.1% of the caregiver group and 65.9% of the non-caregiver group members earned <$75,000 per year. About 60% of both groups reported that they felt confident about getting health information.
As can be seen by the cross-tabulated frequencies in Table 1, there were significant relationships between perceiving cancer as more common than heart cancer (χ 2 = 4.4746, p < 0.05), worries about cancer (χ 2 = 7.2583, p < 0.01), confidence about getting health information (χ 2 = 5.2092, p < 0.05), and getting mammogram screenings in the caregiver group. Moreover, there were significant relationships between education (χ 2 = 4.0276, p < 0.05), rather not know the likelihood (χ 2 = 13.5159, p < 0.001), income (χ 2 = 5.0811, p < 0.05), general health (χ 2 = 9.4769, p < 0.01), ever had cancer (χ 2 = 4.5869, p < 0.05), family ever had cancer (χ 2 = 5.4602, p < 0.05), and taking mammogram screenings in the non-caregiver group.
Multivariate analysis
Binominal Logistic Regression
Estimates from the binominal logistic regression model presented in ow that mammogram screening was positively associated with age (OR = 1.058, 95% CI=1.022-1.095, OR = 1.029, 95% CI=1.013-1.046) and negatively with “rather not know my likelihood of getting cancer” (OR = .673, 95% CI=0.496-0.914, OR = .825, 95% CI=0.713-0.955) for both groups. However, among the caregiving group, the dependent variable was positively associated with confidence in getting health information (OR = 1.432, 95% CI=1.049-1.955) and “cancer is more common than heart disease” (OR = 1.490, 95% CI=1.032-2.151) and negatively associated with caregiving hours per week (OR = .749, 95% CI=0.564-0.994). For the non-caregiver group, the dependent variable was positively associated with how worried they were about getting cancer (OR = 1.156, 95% CI=1.000-1.337) and negatively associated with depression (OR = .919, 95% CI=0.871-0.969).