Barriers to Breast Cancer Screening in Nursing and Midwifery Personnel of Hospitals of Birjand, Iran

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the fifth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In developing countries, early diagnosis of breast cancer through available screening methods is the main strategy to reduce mortality. Objectives: This study aimed at investigating the barriers to breast cancer screening methods in nursing and midwifery personnel of hospitals of Birjand, Iran. Methods: In this cross sectional study, a total of 202 female nursing and midwifery personnel working in hospitals of Birjand (lasted from July 2015 to September 2015) were selected using the stratified sampling method. The barriers to breast self-examination and clinical breast examination were investigated using a researcher-made questionnaire. The data were analyzed with the SPSS software (V. 16) using descriptive statistic and chi-square test. P values of < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The results showed that only 11.3% (N = 16) of the participants, who performed breast self-examination, did it on a monthly basis. Intervals between CBE performance in 35.5% of women was 5 or more than 5 years. The main barriers to breast self-examination and clinical breast examination in women were, respectively, lack of time, negligence, lack of symptoms of breast cancer, fear of potential surgery for cancer, and fear of losing beauty. There was a significant association between age, marital status, educational field of study, tenure, and BSE. History of having a child increases performance of CBE yet results also showed that females, who had a history of benign breast diseases, were less prone to perform CBE. Conclusions: According to the results of this study, it seems that interventions, such as changes in psychological and educational programs, to increase the performance and knowledge and create a positive attitude towards these methods in females are needed.