Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding cancer screening among adults in primary care.

Cross-sectionalBMC public health· Jul 2026

Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding cancer screening among adults in primary care.

Melike Karabulut Özer, Yeliz Kasko Arıcı, Özgür Enginyurt

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Prevention & Screening in Primary CareCross-sectionalQ1IF 4.6

Only about half of screening-eligible primary care adults had ever been screened for cancer.

Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding cancer screening among adults in primary care.

Melike Karabulut Özer … Özgür Enginyurt

BMC public health · Jul 2026

Purpose

To assess adults' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about cancer screening in primary care, and to evaluate short-term changes in attitudes after brief written information.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted from March to June 2019 in a family medicine outpatient clinic.

n = 247 participants

Results

just over half of eligible patients had ever been screened, the rest were missed

52.7%

Eligible

2.6%

Non-eligible

More results

Overall, 40.5% were aware of cancer screening tests and 37.0% reported having previously undergone at least one screening test.

Willingness to undergo screening increased after the brochure, indicating a short-term positive change in intention.

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

Awareness of cancer screening did not consistently translate into screening participation. Crude non-screening rates should not be interpreted without considering screening eligibility structure and sample composition.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Brief written information may improve short-term willingness, but these findings should be interpreted as intention rather than confirmed behavioral change.

Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding cancer screening among adults in primary care.

Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding cancer screening among adults in primary care.

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