Perceived Awareness of Risk Factors of Breast Cancer, Health Beliefs and Screening Behaviours of Working Women

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is a prevalent form of cancer in women. In a majority of the cases, it is detected either during screening or after a woman identifies an abnormal lump in the breast. As a result, it has become a significant health concern. Objective: The research goal of this study was to determine the perceived awareness of risk factors, health beliefs, and screening behaviours regarding breast cancer. Materials and methods: A descriptive survey was conducted among 200 working women selected using the simple random sampling technique. The following tools were used to collect the data: i) demographic proforma (19 items); ii) structured perceived awareness scale on risk factors of breast cancer (20 items); iii) structured health belief and screening behaviour scale on breast cancer (40 items). Descriptive and inferential statistics analysed the findings. Results: The majority (97.0%) of the participants had moderate perceived awareness regarding breast cancer risk factors. The mean scores of the subdomains of health beliefs and screening behaviours were found to be high. The relationship between perceived awareness with perceived benefits (p<0.001) and cues to action (p=0.006) was found to be statistically significant, whereas the relationship between perceived awareness and other subdomains was observed to be non-significant. Conclusion: High perceived barriers to breast cancer screening could cause a lower rate of breast cancer screening practices. Hence, breast cancer awareness initiatives are needed to improve women’s overall health by improving preventive and screening behaviours.