Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. A major reason why women do not obtain cancer screening procedures relates to the high levels of fear associated with cancer. In this study, we explored South African mothers’ and daughters’ reaction to the word “cancer” specifically. The study sample included 157 randomly selected mother and adolescent daughter pairs from an urban community in Cape Town, South Africa. Mothers and their adolescent daughters had very similar responses to the term “cancer.” We found that most South African mothers and daughters had a fear-based attitude towards the illness. When we asked mothers what they immediately thought of upon hearing “cancer”, a majority of women (69%) thought of death and another 43% thought of suffering and the detrimental consequences of the illness. Similarly, 50% of the daughters also thought of death and 42% thought of the detrimental aspects of cancer. Fatalistic attitudes and negative emotional reactions have important implications in cancer prevention and need to be addressed within a public health context.
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