Influence of primary care professionals on early detection of breast cancer: different perception between family physicians and nursing professionals

The aim of this study was to assess the level of self-perceived influence on early detection of breast cancer among nurses and family physicians (FP) working in primary care and to identify the factors associated with a lower perception in each group. In the Autonomous Community of Madrid, an online questionnaire on cancer prevention was sent to a random sample of primary care professionals (3586 FP and nurses). The data included sex, age, profession, years in primary care, specific postgraduate training, and opinions and attitudes toward cancer prevention. A descriptive analysis was carried out. Factors associated with a low/null self-perceived influence on early detection of breast cancer were analyzed separately for FP and nurses with multivariate logistic regression models. In all, 76.4% of the participants considered that their influence on the early detection of breast cancer was enough/high. FP attributed to themselves a higher influence than nurses (enough/high: 86.0 vs. 64.6%, P<0.01), and a lower perception was associated with a low/null perceived utility of their individual intervention [odds ratio (OR): 6.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.77-14.85]. Among nurses, also associated with this low/null perceived utility [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 2.81, 95% CI 1.37-5.77] were the absence of postgraduate training in the matter (aOR: 2.56, 95% CI 1.05-6.25), and a low/null perception of feasibility of prevention programs in their centers (aOR: 1.93, 95% CI 1.25-2.98). Primary care professionals perceive their activity in the early detection of breast cancer as relevant, especially FP. To increase knowledge of the utility of individual interventions, specific training and improvement of the feasibility of these programs could enhance this perception. Copyright (C) 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.