The Relationship Between Participation in Mammography Screening Program and Health Literacy

Abstract

Background/Aim: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women around the world. This study aimed to determine the factors that affect participation in a mammography screening program, and analyze the effect of health literacy on women’s level of participation in this program.Methods: The study was planned as a case-control study. Women aged 40-69 years were included in the study. The cases consisted of women who had never participated in the mammography screening program before, and controls consisted of women who had participated in the mammography screening program in the last two years. The study used Turkey Health Literacy Scale and a data form that included questions about participants’ sociodemographic characteristics and reasons for not having participated in the screening program. The data were collected in a family health center and the Cancer Early Diagnosis Screening and Training Centers (CEDSTC) between April and June 2017 during individual interviews.Results/Findings: A total of 619 individuals (case group: 212; control group: 407) participated in this study. The scores of the women that had not participated in the mammography screening program on health literacy scale (29.2±6.8) were lower than that of the women that had participated in this program (33.7±4.8) (p