Abstract

LAMYIAN, M. et al. Barriers to and factors facilitating breast cancer screening among Iranian women: a qualitative study. East. Mediterr. health j. [online]. 2007, vol.13, n.5, pp. 1160-1169. ISSN 1020-3397.

This study used qualitative methodology to understand Iranian women’s views about barriers to and factors facilitating screening for early detection of breast cancer. Using grounded theory with in-depth interviews of 31 participants, themes emerged from the data in 2 main categories (internal and external) with 3 sub-categories: women’s attitudes, feelings and beliefs; women’s social network experiences; and accessibility. Facilitating factors for screening were self-care, fear, proactive coping, state of mind and advocacy. Barriers were negligence, cancer-related fear, low self-efficacy, fatalism, misinformation, ineffective health communication and competing priorities.