Barriers to Breast Cancer Screening Among Refugee Women

A 2004 study revealed that 86% of refugees never had a mammogram compared to American women at 33% (Saadi, 2012). Refugees are displaced people who migrated to other countries to flee from social, physical and/or economic harm. The purpose of this review is to identify barriers and interventions for breast cancer screening among refugee women. When refugee women come to their new countries, they often have chronic conditions that have occurred due to lack of healthcare access. When they arrive, they are faced with more barriers such as language, culture, and religion that keep them from seeking regular healthcare. Due to this, preventative healthcare is put on the backburner, resulting in the increase of incidence for disease such as breast cancer. This increases the use of resources, bringing healthcare dollars up. This study examines the literature on the impact of barriers to breast cancer screening rates and provides an insight for future studies, as well as programs that will aim to increase screening rates of refugee women