Determinants of mammography screening uptake among women attending family health centers in Ankara, Türkiye: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study aimed to assess sociodemographic characteristics, health-seeking behaviors, and breast cancer screening beliefs among women aged 18–69 years attending Family Health Centers (FHCs) in Ankara, Türkiye, and to determine predictors of participation in mammography screening. It is design as a descriptive, cross-sectional study. Between April 2024 and January 2025, data were collected from 718 women using a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Turkish-adapted Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Scale (originally developed by Kwok et al., validated by Türkoğlu et al.). Descriptive analyses, Chi-square tests, and binary logistic regression were performed with IBM SPSS 25.0. Variables with p < 0.20 in univariate analyses were entered into multivariate modeling, and statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. Statistically significant differences were found between age groups in terms of marital status, education level, housing situation, presence of chronic disease, general health perception, and history of non-breast cancer screening (p < 0.001). According to the logistic regression analysis, women who are aware of screening programs are 8.50 times more likely to have a mammogram, those who have undergone non-breast cancer screening are 5.52 times more likely, those with chronic diseases are 1.98 times more likely, and those who describe their health perception as “good/very good” are 1.90 times more likely. (Nagelkerke R² = 0.465). Mammography participation is influenced by both structural and personal determinants. Enhancing awareness, strengthening primary-care education, and addressing financial barriers could substantially improve screening uptake and facilitate earlier breast cancer diagnosis among Turkish women.