Knowledge, attitude and behaviors of health employees of Dicle University Medical Faculty about breast cancer and breast cancer screening

Introduction and Aim: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in our country and in the world. Although breast cancer is common, it is a type of cancer that has a very low mortality rate when diagnosed and treated early. For this reason, cancer screening programs are implemented in developing countries such as our country. Healthcare professionals have a great responsibility for the effective implementation of cancer screening programs and for raising awareness in the society. In this study, our aim is to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of healthcare professionals about breast cancer and breast cancer screening, and to determine how much of the awareness that we want to create in the society is also among us, the healthcare professionals. Material and Methods: Our study is a cross-sectional and descriptive study in which healthcare professionals working at Dicle University Faculty of Medicine were informed about the study and agreed to participate. A data form questioning sociodemographic characteristics, some professional knowledge, the level of knowledge, attitude and behaviors about breast cancer and breast cancer screening was applied to the people who agreed to participate in the study. SPSS 26.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) program was used for the statistical analysis of the data we obtained. Results: Of the 355 healthcare professionals who participated in our study, 212 (59.7%) were women, and 232 (65.4%) were married. The mean age was 31.5±5.7 (min-max:21-57). Of the participants, 104 (29.3%) were doctoral/specialist, 75 had (21.1%) graduate, 158 (44.5%) had university and 18 (5.1%) had high school graduate. Of the healthcare professionals, 145 (40.8%) were nurses/midwives, 163 were (45.9%) assistant doctor, 47 (13.2%) were specialist physicians and 301 (84.8%) were working in internal units whereas 54 (15.2%) were working in surgical units. Twenty six (7.3%) of the participants had a family history of breast cancer. In the knowledge questions asked about breast cancer (general information, symptoms, risk factors, screening method, national cancer screening program), the specialist and the assistant physicians were almost at the same level whereas the levels of the nurses werefound to be statistically significantly lower than that of the doctors (p<0.001). The knowledge levels of male participants in the sections of breast cancer general information, symptoms, risk factors and screening methods were found to be statistically significantly higher than females (p<0.001, p=0.004, p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively). As the age increased, the correct answers for all subjects except breast cancer general knowledge increased statistically significantly (p=0.006; p<0.001; p=0.009; p=0.017, respectively). Of the participants, 65.9% correctly knew how often BSE should be done, 37.2% knew the relationship between BSE and menstruation, 60.8% knew the frequency of CBE, 82.8% knew the age range of mammography screening, and 34.9% knew how often mammography should be taken. Only 12.4% of the female participants were stated that they were doing BSE regularly once a month. Also 75.1% of the women said that they had never had CBE. Moreover 89.4% of the female participants stated that they had never had a mammogram before. Conclusion: It was observed that the breast cancer knowledge level of health professionals participating in our study increased with the education level and with the age. It was seen that the level of knowledge about screening programs was lower than the level of knowledge about other subjects. Although their knowledge level was good in general, their compliance with screening programs was quite low. The most common reason for non-compliance with screening programs was found to be the absence of complaints and self-neglect. Health professionals should improve themselves more on breast cancer and cancer screenings, adapt more to screening programs and guide the society in this regard. KEYWORDS: Breast cancer, healthcare worker, screening methods, breast self- examination