Efforts to present the breast cancer screening information that women need to understand and the possibility of behavior modification: a questionnaire survey

Abstract

It is necessary to consider how to deal with the wish and literacy of the women in regard to breast cancer screening, in order to resolve the dense breast problem, including that of notification of women about their breast density on screening. Therefore, we created an original leaflet presenting the information needed to understand about breast cancer screening. After distributing the leaflets, we conducted a questionnaire survey of the women to determine their understanding of the contents of the leaflet, their level of knowledge and willingness to know about their breast density, and their willingness to undergo the next screening. The participants were 2253 women who underwent population-based breast cancer screening between March 2016 and March 2017. Over 90% of the women understood the contents of the leaflet that we had created and distributed. About a half of the women had prior knowledge about breast density, while only a minority(30.0%) were aware of the benefits and harms of breast cancer screening prior to reading the leaflets. Over 95% of the women expressed a willingness to undergo screening the next time, even after understanding the potential harms after reading the leaflet. We found that even though the women's current level of knowledge about breast cancer screening was insufficient, the women expressed a high level of desire to know about their breast density. Therefore, it is most important to establish a system in order to correctly convey the pros and cons, that is, the benefits and harms, of breast cancer screening.