Attitude of an urban female population to detection of breast carcinoma

An anonymous poll was conducted among Novi Sad women (957 employed and 1000 unemployed) in order to investigate the attitude of women towards breast cancer (BC). Preliminary research established the fact that the majority of women did not have their breasts examined in the last 3 years (64% employed and 60.7% unemployed). The consideration of the possibility of becoming affected by BC is rare or doesn't exist at all in 86.3% of women, therefore the very important emotional stimulus is absent. The general knowledge about BC is insufficient and 1395 women (69.4%) have no knowledge about the methods of breast examination or are very poorly informed, and that also regards the method of breast self-examination which is regularly used by only 9.9% of employed, and 13.3% of unemployed women. A part of the polled women does not want to see a physician out of various reasons: ignorance, indifference, cancerophobia or distrust of used methods, but a portion of the women wants to be examined but cannot make this happen because of the small number of institutions in which such examinations are conducted. Seeing a physician for breast examination is usually provoked by personal motivation, and the influence of the press, radio and TV is very small (1.7% with the employed and 3.1% with the unemployed), as well as the advise of girlfriends or the presence of BC in the family. Under all of these circumstances about 50% of the women are ready to pay all costs of breast examination regardless of the existing health insurance, and the rest of them do not accept this because of various reasons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)