Ms Samira Olyani, Mr Hossein Ebrahimipour, Ms Mehrossadat Mahdizadeh, Mr Jamshid Jamali, Ms Nooshin Peyman,
Volume 0, Issue 0 (12-2024)
Introduction: In Iran, colorectal cancer is the second and the third most common cancer in women and men and the third cause of death, and screening is one of the best methods for early diagnosis and timely treatment of this disease. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the barriers and facilitators of colorectal cancer screening from the perspective of the older adults.
Methodology: This qualitative study was conducted using the content analysis method and based on the social marketing framework and included questions that included the 4 main elements of social marketing (product, price, place, promotion). The sampling method was purpose-based. The data collection method was an in-depth semi-structured interview. Interviews continued until data saturation. The criteria for entering the study included people over 60 years old of both genders with maximum diversity in demographic and social characteristics, living in the city of Mashhad, Iranian nationality and Persian speaking, and having consent to enter the study, and the exclusion criteria for people was not wanting to the interview continued.
Results: 30 people participated in this study, whose average age and standard deviation were 68.1 and 4.8, respectively. The views of the participants in the study about colorectal cancer screening were expressed in the majority of 4 categories (product, barriers, place, promotion). In this study, the presented product was colorectal cancer screening. Costs and barriers to screening were lack of awareness, mental and psychological barriers, religious barriers and personal limitations. The appropriate places to receive messages were comprehensive health service centers, workplaces, addiction treatment centers, and blood transfusion centers. Suitable places for testing were comprehensive health service centers, hospitals and laboratories. Influential people and organizations, comprehensive health service centers and advertisements were the best methods of persuading and encouraging people to perform screening.
Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the most important obstacles to colorectal cancer screening for older adults were lack of awareness about the disease, lack of doctor's recommendation to perform screening, fear of screening test, fear of screening results, and concern about the cost of screening. In order to increase screening in the older adults, special attention should be paid to modifiable factors that can be the focus of interventions aimed at increasing participation in colorectal cancer screening in the older adults. In addition to raising awareness among the older adults and supporting them, health service providers can help the older adults to make voluntary decisions and participate in the screening test and improve their attitudes and reduce fears related to the screening test. On the other hand, health policy makers and decision makers can also encourage the older adults to undergo colorectal cancer screening by adopting and implementing appropriate financial policies and applying subsidies and government aid. With the help of the results of this study, it is possible to design and implement more in-depth studies with the fundamental theory approach in the field of identifying people's attitudes and beliefs about colorectal cancer screening.
