Getting Black women to screen for cancer: incorporating health beliefs into practice.

Designing a culturally appropriate, user-friendly cancer screening and educational program is a challenge for nurse practitioners, particularly when working with populations having poor health promotion behaviors. Health beliefs have been identified as being influential in health promotion behaviors, particularly among African American women, making the understanding of specific health beliefs regarding cancer important for the nurse practitioner providing care. This paper presents a strategic plan to increase health promotion behaviors regarding cancer prevention and early detection among African American women by incorporating their health beliefs into clinical practice.