Journal of Nursing Measurement, Volume 10, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2002 © Springer Publishing Company 39 Stability of Self-Reported Family History of Prostate Cancer Among African American Men Sally P. Weinrich University of Louisville Louisville, KY Louise Faison-Smith Julie Hudson-Priest University of South Carolina Columbia, SC Charmaine Royal National Human Genome Research Institute Bethesda, MD Isaac Powell Wayne State University Detroit, MI The genome-wide search for the prostate cancer gene holds the promise of the availability of prostate cancer susceptibility testing in the near future. When this occurs, self-reported history of prostate cancer will be critical in determining who is eligible for cancer suscep- tibility testing. Little attention has been given to the reliability of self-reported family his- tory of prostate cancer, particularly in African American men. This correlational study measured the stability of self-reported family history of prostate cancer over a one-year time period (between 1997 and 1998) with 96 African American men from a southern state. The men were asked on two separate occasions, 1 year apart, “Have any of your men blood relatives ever had prostate cancer?” The question had a prior test-retest reliability of 0.85 over a 2-week period. Forty-eight percent of the men changed their answers on the second administration. Men most likely to change their answers were low-income men and men who did not participate in a free prostate cancer screening. This research highlights the need for public genetic education and the recognition by health professionals that self- reported family history of cancer is a variable that changes as families have increased awareness and communication concerning family history of cancer. Keywords: African American; cancer; prostate cancer; genetics F amily history of prostate cancer is an important known risk factor for incidence and mortality of prostate cancer (Carter, Steinberg, Beaty, Childs, & Walsh, 1991). Six prostate cancer regions have been identified through prostate cancer family linkage studies at HPC1, 1q24-25 (Smith, Freije, Carpten, Gronberg, Xu, & Isaacs, 1996); HPC2/ELAC2 (17p) (Rebbeck, 2000); HPCX (Xq27-28) (Xu, Meyers, Freije, Isaacs, Wiley, & Nusskern, 1998); PCAP (1q42.2-43) (Berthon,Valeri, Cohen-Akenine, Drelon, Paiss, & Wohr, 1998); CAPB (1p36; Gibbs et al., 2000); HPC20 (20q13; Berry et al.,