Barriers to Breast Cancer Screening Among Women

Objective: This study was conducted to determine barriers for breast cancer screening among women in the north of Jordan. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted at Prince Rashed Hospital in Irbid/North of Jordan, from January 2005 to January 2006. A sample of 1586 Jordanian women aged 35 years, who attended the family medicine clinic, and with the absence of prior or current history of breast cancer were selected. The study parameters characteristics which included : age, education, income, marital status, previous breast cancer screening, family history of breast cancer, age of first menstrual period and on oral contraceptive or not. Accessibility individual barriers concepts were; (1 code for 'Yes' and 0 code for 'No" answer), and summation of barriers in order to get a mean barriers score "from 0-15" (MBS). Socio-demographic characteristics were cross-matched for MBS. Results: Breast cancer screening barriers shows no difference with respect to age, marital status and menarche. The barriers to breast cancer screening were significantly higher among the less educate women, low income families, women who described a family history of breast cancer and among women with an intake of oral contraceptive pills. Conclusion: The results of this study shows that the best approach to reduce mortality associated with breast cancer is screening and early detection, because its etiology remains uncertain. There is a need for a health educational program regarding screening for such groups of patients so as to increase the awareness of women about the importance of screening and repeating this study using a qualitative method to explore more barriers, as well as finding alternative solutions is of paramount importance.