Last update:
19-Mar-2025

OBJECTIVE To explore factors that might be associated with the adoption of mammography as a preventive behavior, in light of the health belief model and taking into consideration the potential impact of worries and fear.

METHOD A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 254 healthy women who completed a composite questionnaire that included: (a) Questions about socio-demographic characteristics and medical history, (b) a questionnaire examining beliefs about mammography and breast cancer, based on Champion's model, (c) the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, (d) the Breast Cancer Worry Scale, and (e) the Breast Cancer Fear Scale. Data analysis was carried out using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 25.0.

RESULTS Just over half of the women in the sample had undergone a mammogram at least once in their lifetime and the majority of them were not screened regularly. Based on logistic regression analysis, the probability of having a mammogram was found to increase significantly with age increase, as well as with high levels of self-efficacy, perceived benefits of mammography and trait worry, while married women and those who scored high on perceived severity, had significantly lower probability to initiate mammography screening. In addition, the application of ordinal regression analysis revealed that the probability of regular mammography utilization increased significantly with age increase, while a high level of perceived barriers led to a lower probability of regular mammography uptake.

CONCLUSIONS Interventions to increase women's participation in mammography screening need to be directed towards specific target behaviors (either mammography initiation or re-screening) and take into account appropriate psychosocial variables.

Key words: Fear about cancer, Health belief model, Mammography screening, Worry.