Knowledge, attitude and practice of breast cancer screening among women visiting primary health care centers in Dubai

ABSTRACT

Breast cancer continues to be a major public health problem. Globally, breast cancer is the most common malignant neoplasm among women. The cornerstones of breast cancer prevention are early detection and prompt treatment. A breast self-examination [BSE], clinical examination, and mammography make up the conventional early detection approach. Knowledge, attitude and practices are crucial factors in breast cancer early detection and treatment. Is to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice of women towards breast cancer screening and to identify potential barriers to screening among women users of health centers. A cross sectional study was conducted in four primary health care centers [PHC] which were selected randomly out of eleven. Systematic random sample was used for selection of the women attending these centers above 40 years by choosing of every other one to be included. The visits carried out daily over 2 months period [September - October] in 2008, some clients refused to participate in the interview, the final sample eligible for analysis was 532 clients out of 560, with the response rate of 95%. The participants were subjected to the following tools interview questionnaire including the following socidemographic data, obstetric data, data on menopause, knowledge, attitude about breast cancer disease and breast cancer screening and practice of breast cancer screening methods and barriers of practicing. The present study displayed that an overall, 6.2% of the women had good knowledge and 73.9% of the women had poor knowledge level about the breast cancer and its screening methods. Regarding the attitude, it was found that 59.8% of positive attitude, while 35.5% and 4.7% of the women had neutral and negative attitude respectively. By studying the practice the breast cancer screening methods, it was found that 59.8% of the studied women didn't practice breast self-examination, [58.5%] didn't practice clinical breast examination and 80.8% of the women didn't practice mammography. This study has revealed poor knowledge and attitude of breast cancer and its screening methods as well as low level of practice of breast cancer screening among local women. Women must be educated regarding the importance of breast self-examination, clinical breast examination and mammography after the appropriate age. Doctors need to be more proactive in suggesting regular screening tests. Demonstrations of correct technique of breast self-examination using audio and ' visual aids should be done while a clinical breast examination as part of routine physical checkup might help in making women more "breast health aware". Breast cancer awareness education should be integrated into existing health education programs within hospital settings and at government level