Knowledge of Breast Cancer and Breast Self-Examination Practice among Iranian Women in Hamedan, Iran

Abstract

Background: In Iran, breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women and a major public health problem. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out to determine knowledge on breast cancer and breast selfexamination (BSE) practices of 384 females living in the city of Hamadan, Iran. A purposive sampling method was adopted and data were collected via face-to-face interviews based on a validated questionnaire developed for this study. Results: Among respondents 268 (69.8%) were married and 144 (37.5%) of the respondents reported having a family history of breast cancer. One hundred respondents (26.0%) claimed they practiced BSE. Level of breast cancer knowledge was significantly associated with BSE practice (p=0.000). There was no association with demographic details (p<0.05). Conclusion: The findings showed that Iranian women's knowledge regarding breast cancer and the practice of BSE is inadequate. Targeted education should be implemented to improve early detection of breast cancer.

Predictors of Cancer Awareness among Older Adult Individuals in Jordan

“…Moreover, this study may inform Jordanian health care providers to improve cancer knowledge, prevention and early detection among older adult individuals. The findings of this study was consistent with others who reported that the participants believed that active cigarette smoking was related to cancer (Akhtari-Zavare, Ghanbari-Baghestan, Latiff, Matinnia, et al, 2014). This indicates that the participants had worthy awareness about one of the highest risk factors to cancer.…”

“…Many factors have been perceived by older adults as playing a critical role in cancer development that may include unhealthy food (Choe et al, 2006); smoking and excessive work and stress (Tawalbeh and Ahmad, 2013;Dardas and Ahmad, 2013). Additional factors may include age (Linsell et al, 2008); not attending regular screening (Akhtari-Zavare et al, 2014), not performing regular exercise (Robb, Miles, and Wardle, 2004) and having a family history (Valentinya et al, 2012;Raj et al, 2012). Health information is important for older adults to raise their awareness of factors that could be related to cancer (Kyle et al, 2012).…”

“…In the previous studies, the most cited perceived reasons for not performing screening tests among older adults may include poor knowledge about performing the screening tests (Ahmad et al, 2011;Dogan and Toprak, 2014); lack of recommendation from the health care providers (Tang, Solomon, and McCracken, 2000) and absence of symptoms (Salimzadeh et al, 2012). Cost of the tests (Yepes-Rios, 2006); fear of discovering cancer from the test ; unlikely to have cancer (Akhtari-Zavare et al, 2014) and feeling of embarrassment (Jonathan, 2006) also contributes to problem. Health-care providers should increase knowledge about the importance of performing the screening tests among older adults.…”

Application of the Health Belief Model in Breast Self-Examination by Iranian Female University Students

“…In their study, Johnson and Dickson-Swift stated that young women believed that they were not at the risk of developing breast cancer (31). In another research performed on female students in Malaysia, Aktari denoted that inattention of young women to the risk of breast cancer might be due to the false perception that they are generally healthy and do not need to perform BSE (23). Collective evaluation of the perceptions of women toward BSE could contribute to designing appropriate educational interventions to affect the attitudes toward breast cancer screening (8,32).…”

“…Our findings are consistent with the studies conducted in other countries (21,22). For instance, only 19.6% of the students in Malaysia have been reported to perform BSE (23).…”