Cancer screening behaviors and health literacy levels of women aged 30 and over in the northwest Turkey

ÇELİKKALP Ü., IRMAK A. Y.

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF GYNAECOLOGICAL ONCOLOGY, cilt.45, sa.1, ss.96-105, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)

Özet

The aim of this study was to determine the cancer screening behaviors and the associated factors of women aged 30 years and older during the Covid-19 pandemic period. The study was carried out as a cross-sectional study with 301 women aged 30 years and older in Edirne, which is a border province in northwestern Turkiye. The data was collected via using the Personal Information Form and the and Turkiye Health Literacy Scale-32 (THL-32). In the statistical analysis, the number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-square test, pearson correlation analysis and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis were used. The mean age of the participants is 43.66 +/- 9.02 years. 74.8% of the women had not undergone any screening tests during the pandemic, and 80.7% of them displayed limited and inadequate health literacy levels. 21.9% of women aged 30 and over received Pap smear screening, 22.3% of women aged 40 and over underwent mammography, and 16.7% of women aged 50 and over had screening colonoscopy. Based on the results of multivariate regression analysis, those with adequate health literacy (Odds Ratio (OR): 4.421, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.114-17.539), those who had undergone breast examination performed by a physician (OR: 22.761, 95% CI: 5.930-87.364), and those who participated in papsmear screening (OR: 4.509, 95% CI: 1.605-12.672) were more likely to participate in mammography screening. Women who had a breast examination performed by a physician were also more likely to participate in pap-smear screening (OR: 1.139, 95% CI: 1.074-1.965) and colonoscopy screening (OR: 7.924, 95% CI: 2.384-26.375). The research group showed low levels of participation in cancer screening tests and low levels of health literacy. It is necessary to conduct more awareness-raising campaigns for target groups to encourage them to participate in the screening programs and to improve their health literacy.