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Knowledge is a key success factor in achieving competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to examine how mobile health technology facilitates knowledge management (KM) practices to enhance a public health service in an emerging economies context. Specifically, the acceptance of a knowledge-resource application by community health workers (CHWs) to deliver breast cancer health care in India, where resources are depleted, is explored.

Fieldwork activity conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with frontline CHWs, which were analysed using an interpretive inductive approach.

The application generates knowledge as a resource that signals quality health care and yields a positive reputation for the public health service. The CHW’s acceptance of technology enables knowledge generation and knowledge capture. The design facilitates knowledge codification and knowledge transfer of breast cancer information to standardise quality patient care.

KM insights are provided for the implementation of mobile health technology for frontline health-care professionals in an emerging economies context. The knowledge-resource application can deliver breast cancer care, in localised areas with the potential for wider contexts. The outcomes are valuable for policymakers, health service managers and KM practitioners in an emerging economies context.

The legacy of the mobile heath technology is the normalisation of breast cancer discourse and the technical up-skilling of CHWs.

First, this paper contributes three propositions to KM scholarship, in a public health care, emerging economies context. Second, via an interdisciplinary theoretical lens (signalling theory and technology acceptance model), this paper offers a novel conceptualisation to illustrate how a knowledge-resource application can shape an organisation’s KM to form a resource-based competitive advantage.

Breast cancer is the most increasing female cancer worldwide, including Bangladesh. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between dietary patterns and knowledge perception of breast cancer risk patients in Bangladesh.

A questionnaire survey about 27 frequently consumed food items was conducted among 140 patients in Amader Gram Cancer Care & Research Center. A logistic regression was applied to estimate breast cancer risk. Dietary patterns were analyzed by the principal component analysis: the fat-rich foods (meat, oil, etc.), fruits, vegetables, sugar, tea, coffee, eggs and fish patterns.

The marginal effect of the logit model estimated an increased risk of breast cancer for a“Fatty Diet”, characterized by a higher consumption of milk (1.2 per cent, p < 0.01), vegetable oils and fats, butter (3.7 per cent, p < 0.05) and red meat (4.9 per cent, p < 0.05), but a decreased risk of breast cancer for a “Fruity and Vegetable Diet”, characterized by a higher consumption of fish (1.3 per cent, p < 0.01), chicken and eggs (5.1 per cent, p < 0.05), fruits (0.05 per cent, p < 0.01) and vegetables (2.9 per cent, p < 0.05). The findings of this study also suggested that weight (0.07 per cent, p < 0.01) and age (19 per cent, p < 0.05) were associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, but exercise (13 per cent, p < 0.05) reduced breast cancer risk. The findings also showed that maximum patients had inadequate knowledge on dietary and clinical factors of breast cancer risk, in addition to poor cancer screening practice. Poor knowledge and practice of breast screening were likely to lead to late stage presentation of breast cancer.

The authors found an association between the prudent dietary patterns and breast cancer risk and poor knowledge on nutrition and breast cancer.

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide. This study aimed to compare the level of knowledge and attitude of females regarding Breast cancer and to determine the role of knowledge, attitude and barriers in performing regular self-examination.

Non-physician females aged 18 years old or above were enrolled in this cross-sectional study in two groups of usual clients and healthcare staff from January 2018 to January 2019 from a healthcare center in Sari, a major city in the northern district of Iran. A questionnaire was used to score the participants’ knowledge and attitude levels using questions about the participants' knowledge and attitude towards Breast cancer along with their status on Breast self-examination and barriers. Mean scores were used for statistical analysis using SPSS V25. p < 0.05 was considered significant.

A final dataset of 279 females were collected. A significant difference in the knowledge and attitude regarding breast cancer was found between the two study groups (p < 0.001). The practice of BSE was significantly lower in the usual clients compared to non-physician healthcare staff (p < 0.001). The most frequent barriers for not performing a regular BSE were fear of finding a mass in usual clients (17.8%) and lack of confidence in healthcare staff (3.8%).

Limitations include single-centered sample selection.

Given the importance of early detection in breast cancer prevention and the general taboo regarding breast cancer screening methods in certain parts of the world, leading to poor results in early detection and prevention, the authors believe that it is of superior importance to address and promote positive attitudes in general population towards breast self-examination.

Given the importance of early detection in breast cancer prevention, and the general taboo regarding breast cancer screening methods in certain parts of the world, leading to poor results in early detection and prevention, the authors believe that it is of superior importance to address and promote positive attitudes in general population toward breast self-examination. The authors of this study believe that the manuscript represents honest and original work.

This chapter focuses on the differences that younger, middle-aged, and older women with breast cancer experience, particularly in health knowledge and treatment. These differential experiences, in part, stem from our youth oriented culture. This ideology extends into medicine and can affect day-to-day medical practice. Differential experiences are, therefore, likely to result in inequality and disparity in health and in healthcare. It is argued that older women are less empowered than their younger counterparts to display the same degree of agency. This analysis has important implications for health care professionals in the treatment of older women with breast cancer.

This paper aims to discuss the barriers to preventative breast cancer screening (BCS) among Muslim Syrian refugee women in a Western Canadian Prairie city.

Situated within a larger mixed-method study aimed at identifying barriers and facilitators to breast cancer (BC) preventative practices, the authors interviewed three key informants to get an in-depth understanding of the cultural, religious and social factors affecting knowledge of BC and BCS practices among Muslim Syrian refugee women.

Qualitative findings confirm quantitative results revealing that knowledge about BC and cultural and religious barriers on gender might translate into poor health outcomes for Muslim Syrian refugee women in a Western Canadian city.

This research has limitations related to the sample size and the lack of generalizability to all refugee women. Results indicate the need to develop culturally tailored intervention programs to increase breast awareness and participation in breast-self-examination, clinical breast examination and mammography. The study has implications for health-care policy. Muslim Syrian refugee women need to be educated about BC upon arrival in Canada to counteract low participation rates, promote positive health outcomes and decrease potential costs to the health-care system.

Evidence on Muslim Syrian refugee women’s knowledge and beliefs on BC is sparse. This study addressed this gap by documenting a lack of knowledge and barriers to BCS among Muslim Syrian refugee women.

The purpose of this paper was to understand the lived experiences of women who have been diagnosed, treated and are cancer free as survivors.

Using purposive sampling approach, participants were recruited from two Missouri cancer centers. A total of 15 breast cancer free women (ten white and five black) were interviewed. The participants ranged in age from 34 to 62 years, and all had at least a bachelor degree.

Eight unique themes were identified from the interviews. The women noted that maintaining positive attitude, and support from family and friends were the greatest resources that helped them through their cancer journey. They were generally positive about their experiences but uncertain what “survivor” meant individually and personally.

All the women in this study had at least a college degree, stable family economic resources and health insurance.

The women interviewed in this study did not want to be called breast cancer “survivors” which is a common name for anyone who has been diagnosed, treated and cancer free. For those who are breast cancer educators, nurses, medical practitioners and counselors it is important to consider how they use the word “survivor.” Referring to women who have successfully completed a treatment program for breast cancer as “survivors” attaches an identity that may not be accepted by all.

Breast cancer (BC) presents a major public health challenge world-over including India. While several risk-factors, early signs and symptoms of BC are known, the knowledge and awareness of this disease remains poor among the population. The present study aimed to determine the extent of knowledge and awareness of BC, its risk factors, early signs and symptoms and breast self-examination (BSE) practice as an early detection method among Indian college-going female students.

The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey at a University in Delhi-NCR. Data on socio-demographic, knowledge and awareness of BC including BSE was collected using a pretested questionnaire. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis was performed. All tests were two-sided and significance was set at p < 0.05.

A total of 866 female students participated in the study with mean age of 22.32 (±0.146) years having mean body mass index (BMI) of 21.22 (±3.52). As high as 82.1% of the participants had heard of BC but while 74.8% thought early detection is possible, 70.7% believed BC cannot be prevented. Gene mutations (60.2%) were identified as a significant risk factor, while breast pain (61.4%) was commonly recognized as a sign of BC. Only 29.8% of students ever performed BSE. Increased odds of performing BSE (OR = 3.4) was found among students who recognized gene mutations as an important BC risk factor.

Knowledge and awareness of BC including BSE among female college students were found to be below average. It is suggested that there is an urgent need for increasing BC awareness among young girls through workshops and mobile-health interventions.

This study provides new information on the level of knowledge and awareness of BC risk factors, sign and symptoms and self-examination practice among young college girls. Moreover, this study advocates the need for design and implementation of a sustainable digital health model for active population BC screening, which is not being done currently.

BC is a highly aggressive disease, which is now one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in India and world over. Although the knowledge of BC risk factors and its signs and symptoms have increased, the awareness of these elements among the general population at large is low and/or missing, especially in India. Furthermore, as a consequence of unorganized screening programs in the country, majority of women are presenting young with locally advanced disease. Understanding the existing level of knowledge and educating school, college and University students of the pertinent factors and screening practices such as BSE could drastically help in improving the self-screening and/or clinical examination rates. This could potentially lead to early detection and improved prognosis, thus ameliorating disease burden.

This study is one of the few studies conducted in India among young female college students belonging to non-medical backgrounds, delineating the level of knowledge and awareness of BC risk factors and signs and symptoms along with practice of early detection method such as BSE. The study has a considerable sample size and provides valuable evidence for a need to implement programs incorporating digital health models for accelerating awareness and screening of young girls in both rural and urban settings.

The National Health Service Breast Screening Programme set up 20 years ago in the UK has to evolve continuously to meet changing needs as a result of fundamental transformations in the age and ethnic profile of the population. This article draws on evidence generated as part of the Healthcare Commission's national study aimed at identifying issues that may contribute to different groups not having equal access to, experience of, or outcomes from services relating to breast screening and breast cancer treatment. Findings indicate that ethnicity has an effect on the awareness of services and of breast cancer. Access to screening and the experience of screening and treatment are influenced by the interaction of ethnicity with age. Younger women from certain black and minority ethnic groups face particular barriers. There can be additional barriers experienced by those from linguistic minorities. Equality of access, experience and outcomes does not mean treating everyone the same way.

While there is literature that examines factors associated with low participation in cancer screening among Canadian ethnic groups, there is limited understanding of black visible minorities, particularly Somalis. Thus, the purpose of this study is to synthesize knowledge pertaining to the perceptions, beliefs and barriers of Somali women and men toward screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers in countries such as Canada.

The scoping review methodology was used to search for peer-reviewed articles that explicitly examined perceptions, beliefs and barriers among Somalis toward screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers in developed countries. The following electronic databases were searched without time frame restrictions, namely, OVID Medline, Embase, CINHAL, PubMed, Scopes and ProQuest. A total of 402 peer-reviewed articles were identified and screened. Three articles were identified through reference list screening (one eligible) and consultation with experts in the networks (two eligible). In total, 12 studies met the inclusion criteria for synthesis. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the selected articles for key themes and the synthesis was informed by the socio-ecological model.

The majority of studies originated from the USA and focused primarily on Somali women and cervical cancer screening. Themes that emerged from the literature include individual-level negative experiences and socio-cultural perceptions/beliefs; community-level barriers in cancer screening; and systemic challenges in navigating the health-care system. Many of the studies focused on individual and community-level determinants of cancer screening, with little attention to systemic level determinants. Other gaps identified include factors influencing Somali men’s low participation in cancer screening; limited studies on colorectal cancer and Somali women; and specific cancer-screening barriers faced by Somalis within the Canadian context.

The findings of the review reveal multiple cancer screening challenges for Somali communities and the gained insights should inform both health and social care practitioners and policymakers.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the Persian version of the Attitude toward Breast Cancer Screening Procedures Scale (ABCSPS) among Iranian women.

In this methodological study, 1,000 Iranian women completed a demographic questionnaire and the 14-item Persian ABCSPS. The scale’s construct validity was evaluated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency and reliability were assessed using Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s coefficient ω.

The exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution accounting for 55.1 percent of the variance. The two-factor measurement model had a good fit with all factor loadings greater than 0.5, which were statistically significant. The results showed good reliability and internally consistency (α=0.767 and 0.872; ω =0.979 and 0.997). Moreover, model structure was invariant across different income groups.

The Persian ABCSPS translation demonstrated good validity and reliability among Iranian women. The results also showed that the scale had a multidimensional structure. Regarding proper psychometric properties, the validated scale can be used in future studies as a reliable and relevant breast cancer screening attitude measure.