Breast cancer diagnosis behaviors in women with and without a family history of breast cancer

Purpose: The aim of this article was to investigate the relationship between the fear of breast cancer, perceived risk, knowledge of breast cancer, and breast cancer diagnosis behaviors in women with and without a family history of breast cancer. Materials and Methods: The study used a descriptive and cross-sectional design and was carried out through face-toface interviews between December 2019 and April 2020 with 308 women who had a family history of breast cancer and were receiving breast cancer treatment in the Oncology and Chemotherapy unit of a city hospital and 523 patient relatives who were receiving treatment in other services of the hospital and had no family history of breast cancer. Results: The perceived risk of breast cancer in ten years by women with a family history of breast cancer, compared to that of women with no family history, increased by 1,938 times, the fear of breast cancer score increased by 1,073 times and that the Comprehensive Breast Cancer Knowledge Test (CBCKT) score increased by 3,269 times. Conclusion: The breast cancer diagnosis behaviors of women with a family history (performing BSE, having a CBE, having a mammogram in women aged over 40) increased significantly compared to those who did not have a family history, but that it was still not at the desired level in both groups.