Investigation of breast cancer screening behavior in female athletes

Background and aim: Considering the high prevalence of breast cancer and the most important study of women's behavior and awareness in the incidence of cancer screening behavior, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the behavior of women in breast cancer screening. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022 on 200 female athletes over 20 years old. The data related to the study were collected using the questionnaire of individual characteristics and breast cancer screening. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 22 software and Pearson correlation tests, independent t-test and ANOVA. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Findings: The average score of awareness was 27 +/- 5.2 and behavior was 18.9 +/- 3.7. Based on the results of Pearson's correlation coefficient, awareness (r=0.24, p<0.001) compared to attitude (r=0.14, p<0.001) had a stronger correlation with behavior. Awareness had a significant relationship with the variables of age, education, history of breast cancer, history of breast self-examination (p<0.001), attitude with history of breast cancer (p<0.005), and behavior with education and history of breast self-examination (p<0.005). Conclusion: The average score of women's behavior for participating in the screening program was lower than the expected average score.