Cancer screening behaviour of women aged 55 or older and its relationship with use of primary health care services in Bornova district of İzmir

Cancer is a significant health problem worldwide and the second leading cause of all deaths. Cancer screening can provide early diagnosis and, therefore, is an important step for the fight against cancer. In Turkey, the role of primary health care services in cancer screening has become more important after the National Cancer Screeing Standart Program (NCSSP). Our aim is to determine cancer screening behaviour of women and its relationship with use of primary health care services. Our study was planned as a cross-sectional study. 30 Family Medicine Units (FMUs) were chosen from 120 FMUs by random sampling. The study was completed between March-September 2015 with 383 women who were randomly selected from these FMUs. Questionnaires consisted of the Primary Care Assessment Survey (PCAS) and questions regarding cancer screening behaviour, and were administered face-to-face. When cancer screening behaviour was investigated; having at least one screening test for breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer were 57.2%, 46.5% and 20.9%, respectively. When the screening rates were investigated according to the NCSSP; the rates were 18.5%, 40.1% and 2.9%, respectively. Breast cancer screening behaviour was related to the "accessibility" dimension of PCAS, servical cancer screening behaviour was related to the "trust" dimension of PCAS and colorectal cancer screening behaviour was related to the "structural summary scale" and "physician-patient relationship summary scale" of PCAS. Additionally, cancer screening bahaviour was related to demographic variables such as age, education level, socioeconomical level and variables such as presence of chronic disease, history of cancer, family history of cancer and fear of getting cancer (p<0.05). There is a relationship between cancer screening behaviour and use of primary health care services. Supporting primary health care services and family physicians may ease reaching to targeted health outcomes specific to cancer.