Awareness Level about Breast Cancer Risk Factors, Barriers, Attitude and Breast Cancer Screening among Indonesian Women

Abstract

Background: Globally, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women and is a leading cause of mortality<br />in Indonesia. Raising awareness of breast cancer is particularly important to help at risk women seek medical treatment<br />for this disease. This study aimed to comprehensively investigate the Indonesian women's level of knowledge about<br />breast cancer risk factors, barriers, attitude and breast cancer screening. Methods: This population-based cross-sectional<br />study administered the breast cancer awareness Indonesian scale (BCAS-I) to 856 Indonesian women. Samples were<br />selected in rural and urban combinations from three provinces by stratified random sampling. The ordinal logistic<br />model was used to investigate the clustering effect of the participant's characteristics in this study. Results: Of the<br />women, 62% lived in rural areas and 38% lived in urban areas. Living in an urban area was significantly associated<br />with a lower knowledge of the risk factors. However, living in an urban area was significantly associated with better<br />attitudes and healthier behaviours related to breast cancer awareness. Women with higher education levels had 70%<br />worse attitudes toward breast cancer awareness. Women living South of Sumatera, women living in Yogyakarta, and<br />unmarried women were 5.03, 3.84, and 1.56 times as likely to have higher perceived barriers, respectively. Conclusion:<br />Urban women had a poorer level of knowledge of breast cancer risk factors compared to women living in more rural<br />areas. The result of this study may reflect inadequate breast cancer awareness campaigns or a lack of breast cancer<br />awareness campaigns. These findings suggest that additional education programs aiming to increase awareness and<br />educate the public are needed.