Barriers to Participation of Breast Cancer Patients’ Relatives in Mammographic Screening

Breast cancer is the most common female cancer in the world and Iran and the leading cause of cancer death among Iranian women. One way to control this cancer is to get screened and diagnosed early. Given that screening in the general population is not possible, early detection of this cancer in high-risk women is one way to control it. Mammography is one way to diagnose breast cancer, but unfortunately, most people do not want to have a mammogram. This is an important issue for women with a family history of breast cancer, which constitutes one of the most high-risk groups for the disease. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify the views of relatives of patients with breast cancer about the reasons for unwillingness to perform mammography.

The present study was a qualitative study performed on 160 first-degree relatives and 118 second-degree relatives of breast cancer patients who were selected by purposive sampling to discover the reasons for not performing mammography. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. All data were recorded and handwritten and analyzed using structural methods.

In the content analysis of the interviews, 5 themes, 14 main categories, and 73 subcategories were extracted. Preoccupation with daily life matters and lack of knowledge were the most common barriers to participation in screening among 1st-degree relatives, while wrong beliefs and attitudes constituted the most common barriers contributing to the unwillingness to getting mammography screening among 2nd-degree relatives.

Relatives of women with breast cancer are neglected despite facing a high probability of developing this cancer. It is suggested that the country’s health system provide comprehensive and effective education for relatives of women with breast cancer to raise awareness and eliminate misconceptions.