Azaiza Faisal, Cohen Miri
School of Social Work, Faculty of Health and Welfare Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2006 Jun;15(5):520-30. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2006.15.520.
To examine the relationship between health beliefs and participation in breast cancer screening among Arab women in Israel.
A random sample of 568 Arab women, aged 20-60, belonging to three religious groups, Muslim, Christian, and Druze, was recruited. Participants answered a telephone questionnaire regarding attendance for mammography screening and clinical breast examination (CBE) and health beliefs.
Christian women had undergone more mammography screening and CBE than Druze and Muslim women. They perceived more benefits and fewer barriers to screening practices and had greater perception of the severity of breast cancer. Perception of susceptibility was similar across groups. The barriers that were significant for the Druze and Muslim women were feelings of discomfort and embarrassment, the belief that there was no cure in the case of a positive finding, perceiving mammography as hazardous to health, and perceiving CBE as painful. Logistic regression revealed that age, group, and having a first-degree relative with breast cancer predicted participation in early detection screening. Physician's recommendation predicted mammography, and level of participants' religiosity predicted CBE.
Diversity in health beliefs and behaviors exists in religious subgroups. Health communications should be modified to suit women in different groups in order to increase participation in screening. In addition, physicians have to be made keenly aware of their pivotal role in motivating women to participate in early detection screening.
探讨以色列阿拉伯女性的健康观念与乳腺癌筛查参与度之间的关系。
招募了568名年龄在20至60岁之间、分属穆斯林、基督教和德鲁兹三个宗教群体的阿拉伯女性作为随机样本。参与者回答了一份关于乳房X光检查筛查和临床乳腺检查（CBE）的出勤情况以及健康观念的电话调查问卷。
基督教女性接受乳房X光检查筛查和CBE的次数多于德鲁兹和穆斯林女性。她们认为筛查的益处更多，障碍更少，并且对乳腺癌的严重性有更高的认知。各群体对易感性的认知相似。对德鲁兹和穆斯林女性来说，重要的障碍包括不适感和尴尬感、认为检查结果呈阳性就无药可治、认为乳房X光检查对健康有害以及认为CBE很痛苦。逻辑回归显示，年龄、宗教群体以及有患乳腺癌的一级亲属可预测早期检测筛查的参与情况。医生的建议可预测乳房X光检查，参与者的宗教虔诚程度可预测CBE。
宗教亚群体在健康观念和行为方面存在差异。应调整健康宣传方式以适应不同群体的女性，从而提高筛查参与度。此外，必须让医生深刻认识到他们在激励女性参与早期检测筛查方面的关键作用。
