Gülengül Mermer

Nutrition, Lifestyle, and Breast Cancer Risk Among Turkish Women

Abstract: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, with more than 1 million cases occurring worldwide annually. Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in Turkey; deaths due to breast cancer constitute 24.1% of all carcinoma cases reported among women. We conducted a case-control study of Turkish women with and without breast cancer to investigate the relationships of selected lifestyle and nutritional risk factors with breast cancer risk. Factors were chosen based upon published associations with breast cancer. Subjects were women in Izmir, Turkey. Cases were 123 women with breast cancer registered with the Department of Oncology, Ege University Hospital, in February through July 2004. The control group included 120 randomly selected women without a breast cancer diagnosis, registered with the Evka-4 Health Care Center and having similar sociodemographic characteristics. Inclusion criteria for participation consisted of 40 yr of age and over and willingness to participate. ϰ2 tests and t-tests were used to determine statistical differences between cases and controls based on selected variables. Logistic regression was used to find the association between selected risk factors and breast cancer occurrence. Cases had smoked for more years, their age of first pregnancy was higher, and breast cancer occurrence was more common in first-degree relatives such as mothers and sisters of cases compared with controls. Cases were found to have consumed higher amounts of vegetable oil in contrast to controls. These findings are consistent with similar studies conducted in both developed and developing countries.

Assessment of the effects of breast cancer training on women between the ages of 50 and 70 in Kemalpasa, Turkey.

BACKGROUND In both developed and developing countries; breast cancer is the major cancer observed in women. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of nursing and mammographic intervention on women with breast cancer between the ages of 50 and 70. MATERIALS AND METHODS A training program, which was quasi- experimental and had a pretest-protest design, was applied in Kemalpas?a district of Izmir, between October 2008 and August 2010. The target population was women between the ages of 50 and 70, who were registered in the list of 3rd Family Medicine Unit in Izmirs Kemalpas?a metropolis. A total of 106 women who were in conformity with the study criteria participated in the study. Research data were collected through home visits that included face-to-face interviews; Ministry of Health education material and video films were modified and used for the training. Data analysis was performed through 82 women who were paired at the first and the second phase. RESULTS It was observed that although the rate of breast self examination significantly increased after the training (p=0.022), the rate of clinical breast examination (p=0.122) and mammographic screening (p=0.523) did not. Differences in the stages of change after training were found to be statistically significant (p<0.001) and the group showed a progression in the stages of change in general (46.3%). In women mean scores of breast cancer awareness (p<0.000), severity (p<0.000), health motivation (p<0.000) and perception of the benefits of mammography (p<0.000) increased significantly and mean score of perception of mammography barriers decreased significantly (p<0.000) after the training. CONCLUSIONS After the training on breast cancer and mammography it was determined that nursing interventions provided positive progression of stages of change of women, affected health beliefs positively and significantly increased BSE incidences. However, it did not have a significant effect on CBE and mammographic screening.

Midwifery Students’ Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care: An Example from Western Turkey

This cross-sectional study aimed to explore Turkish midwifery students’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care and to investigate the factors affecting them. Data were collected from 271 students of the Midwifery Department of the High School of Health of a state university in the west of Turkey using the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale. A significant difference was found between belief in the need for spiritual care and the practice of spiritual care during midwifery training and the total score on the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale, but no significant difference was found between the students’ year of class, whether they had heard about spiritual care, and their state of knowledge concerning spiritual care. An increase in awareness, knowledge and skills relating to spirituality and spiritual care on the part of midwifery students, who are the midwives of the future, will allow students to provide spiritual care to their patients after they qualify. For this reason, the education program of midwifery students should be seen from a holistic standpoint in order to develop spiritual care.

Social Perceptions of Breast Cancer by Women Still Undergoing or Having Completed Therapy: a Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is a crisis situation which effects womens lives physically, socially and spiritually. Investigating womens perceptions of this disease is crucially important for treatment decisions. We therefore determined social perceptions and interpretations of women diagnosed with breast cancer during therapy and in the post-treatment period. MATERIALS AND METHODS In the study, focus group and in-depth interviews were made with women still undergoing or having completed breast cancer treatment. Some 25 women were included in the research. Content analysis was used in the analysis of the qualitative data obtained after the focus group and in-depth interviews. RESULTS Some of the women demonstrated positive perceptions towards accepting the disease, whereas others had emotions such as rebellion and anger. The loss of a breast is important with different interpretations. CONCLUSIONS Womens acceptance or rebellion against the disease varies within their social interpretations after the treatment, as at the stage of diagnosis/treatment. All stages of breast cancer negatively affect the social life of the affected individual as much as her body. Nurses assume crucial roles in coping with these negative effects. Thus, it is necessary to know, and sociologically interpret, what is indicated by the information on what the negative effects concerning the disease are and how they are interpreted.