Table 2.

Perceptions about screening programs and reasons given for choosing different options

	Breast cancer and screening	Cervical cancer and screening
Cancer site, location on body	“with breast cancer, I would not have any problems examining myself […]and with cervical cancer, you need someone to do the examination.”	“Because it’s very hard for one to see the change in her cervix than on the breast, the cervical part is in a hidden place […] as for the breast it’s very easy for one to see the change on the breast.”
Perceived severity of disease	“[Breast cancer is] dangerous because it spreads to a lot of our body parts unlike cervical cancer”	“It is the one which can spread rapidly.”
Disease awareness	“it is not common for breast cancer to be talked about, it is more difficult than cervical cancer because cervical cancer has been heard a lot in the past but about breast cancer, it seems like it has just started to be heard now”	“cervical cancer is common, most people know it and people have been informed about it for quite some time. They even talk about cervical cancer on television and hospitals, you can be examined because this cervical cancer is not difficult.”
Fear of treatment, surgical removal of body part	“in cervical cancer, they do cryotherapy if you have been found with signs of cancer and you will be well. While if don’t recognize breast cancer early and by the time you realize it, they will remove your breast and it may have already spread to other parts of the body.”	[cervical cancer is] “a very dangerous disease […] when you have been found with it, they remove the uterus”
Screening procedure	“you told us that you [will] use hands to examine”	“They say doctors insert something like a metal bar in your vagina, so women become so afraid to be screened.”
Modesty, privacy	“You will not see my private parts. You will just examine my breasts”	“It is a private part and also that when you can have that chance [to be screened] it means you are very lucky because this doesn’t occur frequently.”