@article { author = {Hurst, Cameron Paul and Promthet, Supannee and Rakkapao, Nitchamon}, title = {Factors Associated with Breast Cancer Awareness in Thai Women}, journal = {Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention}, volume = {20}, number = {6}, pages = {1825-1831}, year = {2019}, publisher = {West Asia Organization for Cancer Prevention (WAOCP), APOCP's West Asia Chapter.}, issn = {1513-7368}, eissn = {2476-762X}, doi = {10.31557/APJCP.2019.20.6.1825}, abstract = {Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. In south-east Asia, both the incidenceand mortality rates of breast cancer are on the rise, and the latter is likely due to the limited access to large-scalecommunity screening program in these resource-limited countries. Breast cancer awareness is an important tool whichmay, through increasing breast self-examination and the seeking of clinical examination, reduce breast cancer mortality.Investigating factors associated with breast cancer awareness of women is likely to help identify those at risk, andprovide insights into developing effective health promotion interventions. Objective: To investigate factors associatedwith breast cancer awareness in Thai women. Methods: A cross-sectional sample of Thai women aged 20-64 yearswas collected during August to October, 2015 from two provinces of southern Thailand (Surat Thani and Songkla). Aquestionnaire including the Breast Cancer Awareness Scale along with demographic characteristics was administeredand Proportional Odds Logistic regression was then used to investigate factors associated with breast cancer awareness.Results: In total, 660 Thai women participated in this study. Factors most often associated with the various breastcancer awareness domains were age and rurality. While rural women had poorer knowledge of breast cancer signs andsymptoms, they also had lower levels of perceived barriers and considerably better breast cancer awareness behaviors.Conclusion: Despite lower knowledge of breast cancer risk factors and no evidence of better knowledge of signs andsymptoms, we found rural Thai women had considerably better breast cancer awareness behavior. This may be due tothese women’s lower levels of perceived barriers to breast cancer screening services. Indeed this suggests, at least inThai women, that interventions aimed at lowering perceived barriers rather than enhancing disease knowledge maybe more successful in engaging women with breast cancer screening services and increasing breast self-examination.}, keywords = {breast cancer,Breast cancer awareness,B-CAS,Thai women}, url = {https://journal.waocp.org/article_88610.html}, eprint = {https://journal.waocp.org/article_88610_d167eb9e313f6a55325f5c99d0f3f3bb.pdf} }