Determining the Knowledge of Women and Their Attitudes Regarding Gynecological Cancer Prevention (original) (raw)

2013, Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention

Gynecological cancer is an important health problem since it leads to mortality and morbidity of women in all over the world (ACS, 2011). In Turkey, cancer is the second most common cause of death, and among the cancer deaths, the ovarian cancer is in the fourth, the endometrial cancer is in the seventh and the cervical cancer is in the ninth rank (The Ministry of Health, 2006). The negative effects of being diagnosed with gynecological cancer on women health have many dimensions. The fear of being diagnosed with cancer, the complicated, long, invasive, and combined treatments, being under stress and the risk of complications depending on the duration of the treatment, concerns about the body shape, the sexual identity and the reproduction affect the standard of living of the woman, her partner and her family (Beşer and Öz, 2003; Kara and Fesci, 2004; Hobbs and Smith, 2006). However, as it is in many other cancer types, gynecological cancer is a disease which may be prevented and cured in case of early diagnosis. Nevertheless, some studies performed indicate that owing to lots of factors such as lack of education, lack of knowledge about scanning, economical problems, the problems of attaining health services, the fear of having pain, the embarrassment, the false beliefs about disregarding the privacy and the