Health Beliefs of the Female Academicians About Breast Cancer and Screening Tests and the Affecting Factors

TLDR: It was established that female academicians were susceptible to breast cancer, cared about it, had higher health motivation, believed in the benefits of breast self examination (BSE) and mammography and in the efficacy of the BSE.

Abstract: This was a descriptive research conducted in order to determine health beliefs of the female academicians about breast cancer and screening tests and the Affecting factors that determined these beliefs. 200 female academicians made up the sample of the research. The data were gathered by the researcher using a Descriptive Data Collection Form that aimed at the characteristics of the women and Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale (HBMS) for breast cancer and were evaluated using percentages, arithmetical means, standard deviations and Mann Whitney U test in computer environment. It was found out in the study that the female academicians who had family cancer history, acquired knowledge about breast cancer and whose academic specialty was on health presented higher mean scores in “susceptibility” and “seriousness” and “breast-self-examination self-efficacy” of HBMS but their mean scores of “barriers to breast-self-examination” and “barriers to mammography” were lower as compared with other women. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). As a result; it was established that female academicians were susceptible to breast cancer, cared about it, had higher health motivation, believed in the benefits of breast self examination (BSE) and mammography and in the efficacy of the BSE. However, female academicians’ perceptions about “barriers to BSE” and “barriers to mammography” were high.