[Knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of women towards breast cancer screening]

The objective of this study was to describe knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of women towards breast cancer screening methods in two regions of north Tunisia. Thus 936 women from Ariana [urban region] and 993 women from Zaghouan [rural region] were selected and answered a questionnaire on their perception of the gravity of breast cancer, the vulnerability of women, the efficacy of screening and their use of screening. The use of screening was significantly more frequent in Ariana for both clinical breast examination and mammography, but screening use was modest. This low use of breast cancer screening contrasts with a positive attitude to breast cancer screening methods. The factors positively associated with use of screening were urban residence, age between 35 and 49 years, educational level and the perception that cancer treatment had advanced in Tunisia

[Knowledge and practice of doctors and midwives working in primary health care regarding screening for cervical and breast cancers]

We assessed the knowledge and practices of breast and cervical cancer of 286 physicians and 126 midwives working in primary health care in Tunis who responded to an anonymous questionnaire. Questions were related to knowledge of the epidemiology and survival rates in the early stages of breast and cervical cancers, to training in this domain and to the degree of involvement in this screening. The knowledge of the two cancers was relatively modest among both physicians and midwives. The systematic practice of Pap smear was significantly more frequent among midwives than physicians.The same result was observed for systematic clinical breast examination. Lack of training about carrying out Pap smears and the large number of consultations were the main factors negatively associated with systematic Pap smear and clinical breast examination practice