Cynthia Kratzke, an assistant professor of health science at New Mexico State University, conducted a survey of college-age women examining what information they had received from their mothers about breast cancer. Using a “Rising Star” grant from the university, she has found that only one third of college-aged women receive advice from their mothers on breast cancer awareness and detection. Her findings were presented at a recent convention of the American Association of Cancer Research in Chicago.
“I don’t think mothers like to talk about cancer, in general,” Dr. Kratzke observed. “For some cultures, there’s a fear that if you talk about cancer, you draw it to you. You would think the mother in the family would be the communicator, the advocate.”
The initial research focused on Hispanic women but the results showed that the lack of communication regarding breast cancer between mother and daughter exists in all ethnic groups.
Dr. Kratzke is a graduate of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in health services research from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Here is a video showing Dr. Kratzke discussing her research.