Barriers of breast self-examination: A review study from Iranian researchers

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among women. Breast self-examination (BSE) is a valuable technique for the detection of this cancer. Despite the relative benefit of BSE, its use remains low. This study aimed to investigate and discover the barriers of breast self-examination. Materials and Methods: In this review study, an online search among articles published from 2000 to 2016 was conducted through CINAHL, PubMed, Science Direct, Elsevier, SID, Iran Medex, Magiran and Google Scholar. Databases using keywords; “Breast self-examination”, “Barriers of breast self-examination”, Breast Cancer” and “Examination”. The protocol of York University Guide was used to select the articles. Results: In total, 15 articles were used from 35 articles that were initially obtained from the search, from which, 8 were Iranian articles, and the rest were non-Iranian articles. The articles indicated that barriers of BSE could be divided into the factors related to knowledge, cultural factors (shame), psychological factors (fear and anxiety), and demographic and environmental factors, which according to the articles, the share of lack of knowledge was much higher than the rest. Conclusion: The analysis of articles showed that the prevalence of breast self-examination was low and self-examination of the breast was not done properly, which was related to the lack of knowledge. Therefore, choosing an appropriate method of education could eliminate the barriers to best supportive care (BSC). In this regard, mass media have an important and essential role.