BARRIERS TO BREAST CANCER SCREENING AND TREATMENT AMONG WOMEN IN EMIRATE OF ABU DHABI (original) (raw)

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), women’s participation in breast cancer screening is low, and women are commonly diagnosed in advanced stages. This study investigated women’s attitudes towards breast cancer screening, their use of health services in the UAE emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, and their preferred medium for breast cancer information. In this qualitative study, six focus groups were conducted with Emirati (n = 28) and non-Emirati (n = 26) women as Ras Al Khaimah is a highly multi-cultural region. Women were separated into different age groups (25–34, 30–44, 44+) so as to obtain perspectives of young (n = 16), middle (n = 19), and older women (n = 19). The focus group transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Women recognised that any breast change should be checked by a doctor, and that women with symptoms or those at higher risk may need to have breast screening earlier than the recommended starting age. However, participants wanted more information from doctors or...

Incorporating breast cancer screening into day-to-day clinical care leads to early diagnosis and decreases mortality. Patients' participation in screening depends on their knowledge and attitudes, other barriers, and physician behavior. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, barriers, and practices related to breast cancer screening among Arabic women. A convenience sample was selected from 1,750 women aged 40-65 years who, for any reason, attended primary health care (PHC) clinics in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Of the 1,750 invited women, 1,445 agreed to participate; 78 were excluded from analysis because of histories of breast cancer. Breast self-examination (BSE) was practiced by 12.7% of the study population, clinical breast examination (CBE) by 13.8%, and mammography by 10.3%. Knowledge about breast cancer screening was low in the study population. Women were infrequently instructed about or offered screening for breas...

Introduction: Screening for breast cancer (BC) is of low rate in Saudi Arabia; although it is provided in the country free of charge to the population. This cross-sectional study aimed at investigating the perceived barriers towards BC screening in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia.Participants and methods. A total of 816 adult Saudi women aged ≥ 30 years attending for routine primary health services or accompanying patients at the selected primary health care centers (PHCs) were randomly selected from 12 PHCs (8 urban and four rural) using multi-stage sampling method. Participants were invited to personal interview using semi-structured data collection instrument including inquiries about socio-demographics, reproductive history, previous histories of diagnosed breast lesions and breast cancer. The perceived individual barriers towards screening, their attitudes, the reasons for not attending previously held screening campaigns in Al Hassa, were also included. Results: Low utilization of BC screening being significantly positively associated with woman's age, higher educational status, higher family income, using hormonal contraception and positive history of previous breast as shown by the results of the logistic regression model. Exploratory factor analysis showed that personal fears (especially fear of doctors/examiners, fear of hospitals and health facilities and fear of consequences/results) were the major factors that hinder women from utilizing the free of charge BC screening with high loading eigenvalue of 3.335, explaining 30.4% of the barriers. Conclusions: Educational interventions aim at improving breast cancer knowledge and addressing barriers should be incorporated as core component of the screening program in Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND Breast cancer is the principal cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. Among Emirati females, breast cancer ranked first accounting for 23.1% of the total cancers. Around 58% of the cases occurred were reported from northern emirates. United Arab Emirates is having higher percentage of expat female population than Emirati women. There is lack of data regarding the knowledge and attitude about breast cancer in this mixed population. AIM The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitude of women towards breast cancer, risk factors and the screening program in women above the age of 19 years residing in northern emirates of the UAE. MATERIALS AND METHODS This is a multi-center based study conducted in selected northern emirates of the UAE. This study employed cross-sectional design involving women above the age of 19 years. The study was conducted among 400 women who attended three hospitals in Ajman, Sharjah and Fujairah. Pretested, content validated q...