Breast Cancer Screening Practice and Health-Promoting Behavior Among Chinese Women

Abstract

On the basis of these results, public education about importance of breast cancer screening and health promoting behavior should be strongly advocated by health professionals and mass media in China.

Factors Associated with Mammography Adherence among Married Chinese Women in Yanbian, China

“…Data from the United States showed that the mammography screening rates (36-67%) among the ethnic minorities have been observed to be the lowest in Asians ( Lee-Lin et al, 2007). Similarly, in a parent study of this current paper on Chinese women in China, the rates of regular mammographic screening varied between regions from 4.8-28.8% (Kim et al, 2011). Previous studies explained sociocultural and individual beliefs and perceptions to be associated with mammography adherence (Carney et al, 2002;Chua et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2009;Lee et al, 2010).…”

“…Despite of the incidence rate among Western countries have been increasing in 1980s and 1990s due to routinely use of mammography (Jemal et al, 2011) but the death rate have been decreasing over the past 25 years due to improved early treatment. In contrast, the lower survival rate of breast cancer has been found in Asian countries including China (Kim et al, 2011).…”

“…For example, as reported in the study by Wang et al (2009) Chinese women were less interested in going for a mammography because the traditional method of cancer prevention promotes maintaining a balanced diet, using herbs, and exercising as the best approach (Wang et al, 2009). Likewise, diversity in individual and sociocultural environment such as cultural affiliation (Yu and Wu, 2005), lack of health services (Yu and Wu, 2005;Gomez et al, 2007;Gao et al, 2012), low perceived awareness (Yu and Wu, 2005;Gomez et al, 2007;Lee-Lin et al, 2007), or low educational level (Lee-Lin et al, 2007), fatalistic attitude (Charkazi et al, 2013), and low perceived risk of breast cancer (Kim et al, 2011) were found to affect the attendance on screenings. Using the Health Belief Model (HBM), screening practices are one of the health promotion behaviors (Lee-Lin et al, 2008;Kim et al, 2011;Charkazi et al, 2013).…”

“…Likewise, diversity in individual and sociocultural environment such as cultural affiliation (Yu and Wu, 2005), lack of health services (Yu and Wu, 2005;Gomez et al, 2007;Gao et al, 2012), low perceived awareness (Yu and Wu, 2005;Gomez et al, 2007;Lee-Lin et al, 2007), or low educational level (Lee-Lin et al, 2007), fatalistic attitude (Charkazi et al, 2013), and low perceived risk of breast cancer (Kim et al, 2011) were found to affect the attendance on screenings. Using the Health Belief Model (HBM), screening practices are one of the health promotion behaviors (Lee-Lin et al, 2008;Kim et al, 2011;Charkazi et al, 2013). According to the HBM, people who believe that a course of action will produce positive outcomes or perceive barriers in engaging in the course action are more likely to participate in health behavior practices (Charkazi et al, 2013).…”

“…According to the HBM, people who believe that a course of action will produce positive outcomes or perceive barriers in engaging in the course action are more likely to participate in health behavior practices (Charkazi et al, 2013). Studies on perceived benefits and barriers on breast cancer prevention behaviors according to age or marital status have been explored in prior research (Chua et al, 2005;Lee-Lin et al, 2007;Kim et al, 2011) but few studies were focused on married women only regarding mammography adherence. Health promotion behaviors including cancer prevention behaviors of married women could be often affected by culturally prescribed gender roles (Song et al, 2012).…”