Study of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (Kap) of Jordanian Women Aged 20-65 Years towards Early Detection and Screening of Breast Cancer

Abstract

Tala Hamadeh, Taghreed Nusairat, Israa Abbadi

Breast cancer has been the most common cancer in the world with nearly 1.7 million new cases diagnosed in 2012. Particially in Jordan, a developing country with limited resources, breast cancer incidence and mortality rates have been doubling in the last decade The study of the knowledge, attitude, and practices of Jordanian women aged 20-65 years towards early detection and screening of breast cancer clearly highlights the level of awareness in the community and provide organizations a clear vision on how to effectively increase awareness and transform the concept of screening and early detection to practice.

Objective: The study is aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of the female population of Jordan ages from 20 to 65 years towards early detection and screening of breast cancer by assessing the overall awareness regarding breast cancer as well as their practices on detecting and screening for the disease.

Method: A qualitative and quantitative interview was conducted with individuals (n=1502) that were randomly selected according to geographical distribution of female Jordanian nationals ages between 20 and 65 years old. The interview was done by the ‘Random Walk’ method and was aided by a Computer-Assisted Personal interviewing (CAPI). The data collected was analyzed using SPSS software, and tested for significance using t-test.

Results: The study outcomes showed that 85% of the participants are aware of breast cancer. The source of their awareness was mainly through TV (72%) and the majority (73%) was not actively looking to increase their knowledge. Only 19% of participants are aware and underwent clinical breast examination (CBE) within the past year while only13% is familiar with mammogram and were subject to it. As for the visit to early detection clinics, 56 % of the Jordanians are welling to visit the clinic if they have doubt about breast cancer, while physician’s recommendation for detection and screening was only 9%. Finally, only 30% of participants believe greatly that breast cancer can be detected in early stages.

Conclusion: The study shows that although most of the participants are familiar with breast cancer but the majority had little detailed knowledge while others had misconceptions and both are not seeking improvement leading to low acknowledgement and practices of early detection and screening.

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