Abstract
Introduction Women working in police force have unique and vital role to play in law enforcement.
Although these women have established a secured place for themselves in the police
force, they are exposed to several behavioral and health risks apart from job stress.
All these can have potentially serious consequences on their well-being.
Objectives To determine the compliance to breast and uterine cervical cancers screening and
identify predictors of participation in breast and cervical cancers screening among
women police personnel.
Materials and Methods This is a cross-sectional study conducted among the Mumbai police personnel during
the period 2019 to 2021. All women working for Mumbai police work force in 12 zones
were invited to participate in the study. Temporary clinics for screening were set
up in different police stations and eligible participants were enrolled after obtaining
written informed consent. This was followed by sociodemographic and risk factor assessment,
health education program, screening for common cancers conducted by trained primary
health workers (breast by clinical breast examination and uterine cervix by visual
inspection with 5% acetic acid). Screen positives were referred according to predefined
referral criteria for further investigations and management.
Results A total of 3,017 police women were contacted, among them, 2,629 (87.14%) were eligible
for screening, 2,609 (99.24%) participated in health education, and 1,839 (69.95%)
complied for breast or cervical cancer screening. Further, compliance for screening
of breast and uterine cervix were 1,837 (91.67%) and 1,297 (64.72%). A total of 256
(13.94%) and 217 (11.81%) police women were screen positives for breast and cervical
cancers. According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, women younger than
50 years, those who were not married or were widowed or separated, postmenopausal
women, and those who did not have shift duties had higher compliance for breast and
cervix cancers screening.
Conclusion Good participation for breast and cervical cancers screening was seen among the women
police personnel. This study has demonstrated that awareness and screening by simple
low-cost methods for breast and cervical cancers screening is easily implementable
and can be replicated among the women police force in different states of India.
Keywords
screening - breast cancer - uterine cervix cancers - police
