Breast cancer screening participation among Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands: exploring reasons for nonattendance.

Abstract

In the Netherlands, attendance rates for breast cancer screening are much lower among Dutch women born in Turkey and Morocco than they are among native Dutch. The reasons for this trend are not yet known. Currently, mortality and incidence rates for these migrant groups are much lower than those of the native population. However, studies show convergence towards the rates of the native Dutch population. We therefore performed a narrative literature review to study the reasons behind the low participation rate for breast cancer screening among Turkish and Moroccan women in the Netherlands. No truly relevant research on this topic was available. Information acquired from articles only applicable to certain areas of the research question showed that reasons pertaining to lack of awareness and knowledge, organizational issues and socio-cultural aspects are most likely to be responsible for the low attendance. To increase attendance rates, more research is needed to obtain insight into these aspects and into the reasons given by Turkish and Moroccan women.