Fear of Breast Cancer and Assessment of the Efficiency of Mammography Scanning in Working Women.

Objective: To determine the fear of breast cancer and assess the efficiency of mammography scanning among a female population working in a university.

Materials and methods: This descriptive study was performed in a university in the city center of Samsun between March 2019 and October 2019. Instead of choosing samples, all volunteers were included. The data were collected by a study-specific form prepared by the researchers, the breast cancer fear scale and mammography efficacy scale. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed and data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 20.0.

Results: The mean age of women participating in this study was 38.07±8.58 (range 20-62) years and the mean health perception score was 7.46±1.51 (range 3-10). Most (70.3%) women were academic staff and 17.9% reported income less than expenses. Of the participants, 16.1% had breast-related health problem and 18.4% had breast cancer in the family. Most (85.0%) believed that they should have mammography scanning to be protected from breast cancer. The mean score on the breast cancer fear scale was 25.60±7.29, indicating a high score and the mean score on the mammography efficacy scale was 41.18±6.47, indicating a high score of mammography efficacy. The score of breast cancer fear scale was higher for; married women (26.19±7.21) than single women (24.33±7.39) and women with history of having health problem related with breast (28.94±7.30) while those without a history of health problem (24.96±7.13) and postmenopausal women (27.64±6.19) while non-menopausal women (25.30±7.40).

Conclusion: The score of breast cancer fear scale was higher for; married women, history of having health problem related with breast and postmenopausal women.