At a press conference presenting the results of research on the perceptions around breast self-examination, Ms. Tsagari said that "it is scientifically proven that the chances of surviving breast cancer increase with early diagnosis, treatment and treatment."
Ms. Tsagari said that according to the survey data, "a large percentage of Cypriot women (80%) stated that they have no barrier to breast self-examination and this shows that Cypriot women, similar to other European women, they feel comfortable with their body and the examination of their breasts, and have the appropriate personal space to do so. "
On the contrary, Ms. Tsagari continued, "research on women from the Middle East shows that their religious beliefs and culture prevent them from doing breast self-examination, making them feel fear and shame."
Ms. Tsagari said that "it is worrying that, although almost all the women in the survey said they were informed about breast cancer, 56% are unaware of whether they belong to a high-risk group, if they have, that is, more chances for breast cancer ".
He also stated that "similarly, although 25% of the women in the study had a family history of breast cancer on the mother's side, and 3,7% had a personal diagnosis of the disease, only 13% of women believed that they were at high risk. for breast cancer ".
Also, "42% of women do not know if breast cancer is a serious disease or how seriously it would affect their lives and it is also important that a large percentage, 46%, of those surveyed, are not sure if have the knowledge to apply the self-examination method correctly and 22% clearly stated that they do not have confidence in their knowledge of the correct way to detect cancer with the self-examination ".
The statistical analysis showed that the factors that influence the decision of Cypriot women to have a breast self-examination are the confidence they feel in their ability to apply it correctly, their perception of whether they have a higher chance and risk of breast cancer compared to other women and the obstacles they feel they face in doing breast self-examination.
"So, women with high self-confidence in their knowledge about self-examination, who have no obstacles in applying it and who realize that they belong to a high-risk group, will do self-examination more often," said Ms. Tsagari.
The present study is the first to examine breast self-examination and more specifically the factors that influence the decision of Cypriot women to apply it.
For the purposes of the research, the "Scale of the Model of Perceptions of Health" was used, with permission from the author herself, Victoria Champion, to be translated into Greek for the first time to be given to Cypriot women.
The sample of the research consisted of 354 Cypriot women, aged 16 to 57 years. Most women (70%) had a university degree.
In terms of marital status, 55% of the women in the sample were single and 36% were married.
The research was funded by the Research Promotion Foundation within the framework of the "Cyprus-Egypt Transnational Cooperation" Program and concerned a sample of women from Cyprus and Egypt.
The program was conducted by the Center for Social Research (RUBSI) in collaboration with Cairo University.
The coordinator of the project was Dr. Konstantinos Fellas, Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Nicosia and Executive Director of RUBSI.
The main researchers of the program were the Academics Dr. Wasileh Petro, Dr. Charitini Tsagari and Dr. Costas Konstantinou.
Source: SigmaLive.com