A Study on the Knowledge, Perception, and Use of Breast Cancer Screening Methods and Quality of Care Among Women from Central Mexico

• Published in: Journal of cancer education Vol. 30; no. 3; pp. 453 - 459
• Main Authors: Cruz-Castillo, Andrea B., Hernández-Valero, María A., Hovick, Shelly R., Campuzano-González, Martha Elva, Karam-Calderón, Miguel Angel, Bustamante-Montes, L. Patricia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-09-2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Barriers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Breast Neoplasms - prevention & control; Cancer; Cancer Research; Case-Control Studies; Clinical Competence; Departments; Early Detection of Cancer; Economic Factors; Educational Attainment; Educational Psychology; Employment Level; Family Income; Female; Females; Guidelines; Health Behavior; Health education; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Services; Health Services Accessibility - organization & administration; Health services utilization; Home Visits; Humans; Mammography - utilization; Marital Status; Medical screening; Mexico; Middle Aged; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Perception; Perceptions; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Pregnancy; Quality of care; Quality of Health Care - organization & administration; Questionnaires; Resistance (Psychology); Screening Tests; Socioeconomic Factors; Waiting Lists; Mexico; Screening; Perception; Breast cancer; Knowledge; Use
• ISSN: 0885-8195; 1543-0154
• DOI: 10.1007/s13187-014-0722-y

Studies on health behaviors have observed several barriers to breast cancer screening, including lack of breast cancer knowledge, distrust of health care providers, and long waiting times to be screened or to receive screening results. We conducted a nested case-control study among a subsample of 200 women 21 years of age and older [100 patients (cases)], who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and 100 controls, who were screened and found to be free of breast cancer), all residing in the Toluca metropolitan area in central Mexico. We examined how knowledge of breast cancer screening guidelines, perceptions of screening methods, and quality of health care influenced the use of breast cancer screening among study participants. Our study found that the most important factor associated with the decision to have breast cancer screenings was having a positive perception of the quality of care provided by the local health care centers, such as having competent clinic personnel, sufficient screening equipment, and reasonable waiting times to receive screening and to receive the screening results. Therefore, individual health care centers need to focus on the patients’ perception of the services received by optimizing the care provided and, in so doing, increase the rates of early diagnosis and reduce the rate of mortality from breast cancer as well as its associated treatment costs.