Hair salon stylists as breast cancer prevention lay health advisors for African American and Afro-Caribbean women

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of breast health promoting messages administered by salon stylists to clients in the salon setting.

Methods: Forty salons in an urban, minority area were randomly assigned to provide messages to clients or to serve as controls. Pre-intervention surveys were completed by 1,185 salon clients. Following program initiation, assessments of 1,210 clients were conducted.

Results: Among women completing surveys at control salons, 10% reported exposure to breast health messages, as opposed to 37% at experimental salons (OR 5.4, 95% CI 3.7-7.9). Self-reported exposure to stylist-delivered messages was associated with improved breast self-examination rates (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2-2.1) and with greater intentions to have a clinical breast examination (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.3).

Conclusion: Hair salons are a potentially important venue for promotion of health behaviors related to breast cancer detection.