A Systematic review of the obstacles to breast cancer self-examination screening in women

Introduction:Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer inwomen, which is more likely to be cured if diagnosed early.Breast self-examination is one of the main methods of earlydetection of breast cancer, which is very important forwomen. But unfortunately, many women face obstacles inperforming this self-examination, which can prevent earlydetection of breast cancer.Search Strategy:By searching Persian and English articles published between۲۰۱۰-۲۰۲۴ related to the topic of the article in the Web ofScience, PubMed and Google Scholar sites, using thekeywords self-examination, breast cancer, barriers to thearticles were selected.Results:Lack of awareness: Some women do not have enoughknowledge about the importance of breast cancer selfexaminationand its correct methods. Lack of time: Manywomen do not have enough time to do self-examinationdue to their daily busyness. Fear and stress: Some womendelay self-examination due to the fear of the possibility ofcancer in the body. Doubt about the result: Some womenfeel insecure and doubt whether they can deal with cancerif it is present, which makes them not get tested. Lack ofbelief in effectiveness: Some women believe that doingself-examination does not have much effect on preventingbreast cancer and they refuse to do it. Denial: Notaccepting that they may have breast cancer.Conclusion and Discussion:The problems and obstacles that women face in performingbreast cancer self-examination are often caused by women'slack of awareness, which can prevent early diagnosis andeffective treatment of this disease. For this reason,appropriate training and awareness about the importance ofbreast self-examination and the correct methods ofperforming it are very essential so that women can easilyperform this important procedure and prevent the occurrenceof breast cancer or detect its existence in the early stages