Knowledge, Barriers and Attitudes Towards Breast Cancer Mammography Screening in Jordan

Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in Jordan. Current efforts are focused onannual campaigns aimed at increasing awareness about breast cancer and encouraging women to conductmammogram screening. In the absence of regular systematic screening for breast cancer in Jordan, there is aneed to evaluate current mammography screening uptake and its predictors, assess women’s knowledge andattitudes towards breast cancer and screening mammograms and to identify barriers to this preventive service.Materials and
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in six governorates in Jordan through faceto-face interviews on a random sample of women aged 40 to 69 years.
Results: A total of 507 participants withmean age of 46.8±7.8 years were interviewed. There was low participation rate in early detection of breastcancer practices. Breast self-examination, doctor examination and periodic mammography screening werereported by 34.9%, 16.8% and 8.6% of study participants, respectively. Additionally 3.8% underwent breastcancer screening at least once but not periodically, while 87.6% had never undergone mammography screening.Reported reasons for conducting the screening were: perceived benefit (50%); family history of breast cancer(23.1%); perceived severity (21.2%); and advice from friend or family member (5.8%). City residents haveshown higher probability of undergoing mammogram than those who live in towns or villages. Results revealednegative perceptions and limited knowledge of study participants on breast cancer and breast cancer screening.The most commonly reported barriers for women who never underwent screening were: fear of results (63.8%);no support from surrounding environment (59.7); cost of the test (53.4%); and religious belief, i.e. Qadaa WaQadar (51.1%).
Conclusions: In the absence of regular systematic screening for breast cancer in Jordan, theuptake of this preventive service is very low. It is essential for the country of Jordan to work on applying regularsystematic mammography screening for breast cancer. Additionally, there is a need for improvement in thecurrent health promotion programmes targeting breast cancer screening. Other areas that could be targeted infuture initiatives in this field include access to screening in rural areas and removal of current barriers.