The evaluation of factors which affect the cancer screening service participation of individuals applying to family HEALTH centers in Bursa and of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on such factors

Cancer is one of the major causes of death worldwide. By avoiding risk factors causing cancer and by employing cancer prevention strategies dependent on current facts, 30 to 50% of cases can be eliminated. For these reasons, screening for three types of cancers recommended by World Health Organization is employed in our country. COVID-19 was defined as pandemic by World Health Organization in 11 March 2020 and the first case was detected in our country on the same day. As a result of rearranging the resources to manage the pandemic, health services that are thought to be nonemergent such as cancer screening hindered. Besides, individuals suitable for screening hesitated to apply to health centers due to the fear of catching the disease. In this study, I aimed to investigate the factors affecting the status of benefit from cancer screening services from individuals applying to family health centers (FHC) and to define the problem causing the hindrance in the service. This study was performed on 324 individuals that applied to 8 FHCs in Bursa between the dates February and April 2022 with the specific age and gender conditions for national cancer screenings. We employed a face-to-face survey with these participants. In the first part, we asked questions about general socio-demographic information, healthy life attitudes and cancer screening while in the second part, we surveyed with health perception scale. The rate of participation to cancer screening services was 52.2% before pandemic while this rate decreased to 16.4% during pandemic. Approximately, the half of the reasons for not attending to these services was directly linked to pandemic. The major reason is the fear of catching the disease due to the pandemic. Other major reasons for skipping these services such as time construction and unawareness from these services were common in both pre- and during pandemic era. Insufficiency is observed for the reorganization of preventive health services during pandemic and for raising the awareness of people about such services. As the effect of COVID-19 is declining, there can be an overwhelm in health services. To deal with such situation, service facilities and network should be developed. Additionally, there can be strategic changes in cancer screening services such as prioritization of applicants with higher risk of developing malignancies. In similar cases with this pandemic, it could be possible to avoid crisis in health services by employing recommended preventions in this study. Keywords: COVID-19, cancer screening, family health center, health perception scale.