The Attitude of Women Visiting Health Centers of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences Toward Breast Cancer

Considering changes in the structure of Iran’s population, the prevalence of cancer is increasing. Increasing social awareness about cancer and screening for cancers are the most cost-effective approaches for breast cancer prevention. Studies show a significantly low rate of regular breast cancer screening behaviors. Given the importance of breast cancer and the decreasing effect of screening methods on the financial burden and disease complications, awareness about their attitude can provide appropriate information for Policy-making about breast cancer screening methods in Iran. This study aimed to investigate the attitude of women over 40 years-old visiting health centers affiliated toward breast cancer screening methods.

This is a descriptive/analytical study performed cross-sectionally in the health centers affiliated with TUMS. Two hundreds fifty-five women from Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex and some health centers that were subsidiaries of the south health centers of TUMS, were enrolled. To collect the required data, we developed a questionnaire based on tools used in similar studies. We used the Chi-square test to investigate the relationship of the attitude score with demographic and socioeconomic variables. The statistical analyses were performed in STATA.

About 77.6% of the participants agreed that breast cancers detected earlier are almost treatable. About 18.9% of the participants believed that (agree and highly agree) they will not develop breast cancer in the future, and 47.8% had no idea; 68.2% of the participants disagreed with the item “breast cancer is almost incurable even if detected in early stages;” about 22.0% of them believed that they are at higher risks for breast cancer compared to other women, and 61.3% of the participants agreed to visit a physician in case of feeling pain or a mass in the breast

The attitude of the Women participating in the study toward breast cancer screening is high; this finding can be used in plans aiming to raise awareness and conduct screening in Iran.