Beliefs Related to Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Screening Among Lebanese Armenian Women

Abstract

Our purpose of this article was to investigate women's beliefs about breast cancer, breast cancer screening, and intervention programs. We designed the study using a cross-sectional/descriptive correlation. The participants were drawn from a convenience sample (N = 94). The instrument included Champion's Revised Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS). Analysis was performed using SPSS (2005), 15.0. More than sixty-four percent (64.8%) of women surveyed were over 41. Results showed that 80.9% of women surveyed had heard of breast self-exams (BSEs), while 76.6% had heard of mammography. However, 53.2% never practiced breast self-examinations, and 79.6% never underwent mammography. Mean belief scores follow: low susceptibility (14.32), barriers to BSE (15.24), barriers to mammography (14.85), high seriousness (23.42), benefits to breast self-examination (22.7), confidence (36.45), health motivation (27.27), and benefits to mammography (24.28). Significant relationships included the relationship between barriers to breast self-examination and whether women had heard about breast self-examinations (p = .02); the relationship between susceptibility and whether women had heard of or underwent mammography (p = .027); the relationship between confidence and whether women had heard of mammography (p = .056); the relationship between confidence and perceived financial status (p = .05); and benefits of mammography (p = .05). Appropriate interventions are developed.