Early Diagnosis Behavior in Turkish Women with and without a Family History of Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Background: This study was planned as comparative and descriptive in order to measure and evaluate the knowledge and attitudes regarding early diagnosis of women with and without a family history of cervical cancer. Materials and Methods: The study sample consisted of the relatives of female patients (N=253) who were admitted to Istanbul University of Medicine. Women with a family history of cervical cancer formed the case group, while those without family history of cervical cancer constituted the control group. Two distinct data collection tools, a questionnaire and the Miller Behavioral Style Scale (MBSS), were used in order to obtain data for evaluation with SPSS for Windows 20.0 statistics package program. Results: It was found that 61.0% of the case group with family history of cervical cancer and 19.0% of the control group without family history of cervical cancer were using early diagnostic methods. Thus the presence of an individual with cervical cancer in the family affected the attitudes towards early diagnosis. It was further found that the level of knowledge on cervical cancer and PAP smear test was higher in the case group, which was more sensitive with regard to being informed about cervical cancer as compared to general society. However, the average MBSS scores were not significantly different compared to the control group. Conclusions: It was noted that, women participating this study knowledgeable, but this did not necessarily transform into better behavior.

Does Familial History of Cancer Affect the General Health Conditions and Healthy Lifestyle Behavior of Nursing and Midwifery Students?

“…In our study, the healthy lifestyle behaviors of students with a cancer patient among family or relatives were on a better level compared to those without. In other studies, status regarding having a cancer patient among family or relatives was found to affect early diagnosis behavior positively, increase knowledge on cancer, and provide improvement in healthy lifestyle behavior (26)(27)(28). Contrary our study, some studies in literature have found that status regarding having a cancer patient among family or relatives doesn't affect behavior regarding protection from cancer (20,(29)(30)(31)(32).…”

Factors affecting Pap smear uptake in a maternity hospital: A descriptive cross‐sectional study

“…Using the HBM framework, this study found that women's beliefs in the preventive measure of Pap smears were an important factor in influencing their decisions to go for it. Knowledge of the benefits of Pap smears was found to be significantly associated with Pap smear uptake in previous studies (Gu et al., ; Gunaydin & Gencturk, ; Lee, Fogg, & Menon, ; Roy & Tang, ). Although this study did not directly measure the association between knowledge and belief in the effectiveness of Pap smears, 56% of the participants were able to correctly identify the purpose of a Pap smear test.…”

The Relationship Between Health Sciences Students’ Cancer Awareness and Behavioral Styles

“…Its validity and reliability study for Turkey was performed. Of the scale, Cronbach's alpha= 0.6667 and standardized item alpha= 0.6545 [9].…”