Cancer information overload and factors associated with cancer screening attitudes among women attending a breast outpatient clinic: a cross-sectional study

Cancer-related information and emotional responses may be associated with women’s engagement with preventive health behaviors and screening participation. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between cancer information overload and cancer screening attitudes and to identify factors associated with cancer information overload and screening attitudes among women attending a breast outpatient clinic. This cross-sectional study included 300 women attending a tertiary university hospital in western Türkiye. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using the Cancer Information Overload Scale, the Attitude Scale for Cancer Screening, and a sociodemographic and clinical characteristics form. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. The mean age of participants was 45.80 ± 13.23 years. Cancer information overload was significantly and negatively associated with cancer screening attitudes, indicating that higher levels of overload were related to less favorable screening attitudes. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that higher cancer fear level (β = 0.474, p < .001) and prior screening (β = 0.211, p = .014) were independently associated with higher information overload (R² = 0.204, p < .001). Regarding screening attitudes, increasing age (β = −0.187, p = .006) was negatively associated, whereas screening knowledge (β = −0.271, p < .001) was positively associated with favorable attitudes (R² = 0.289, p < .001). In contrast, previous screening experience and greater knowledge regarding cancer screening were associated with more favorable screening attitudes. The findings suggest that both informational and emotional factors are associated with women’s attitudes toward cancer screening. Integrating psychologically informed communication approaches into breast health services may help support favorable screening attitudes, providing candidate hypotheses for future intervention research evaluating actual screening behaviors.