How do women face the threat of breast cancer? Our
findings indicated that women's participation in BSE
training was a purposeful action. Personal safety needs
provided them with the principal motivation, i.e. a sense
of self-security emerged as the central theme of participants'
efforts to practice BSE. Each woman had her own
personal reasons for participating in the BSE training.
However, the common motivation related to how women
assessed their risk of breast cancer, as influenced by individual
and social factors. According to the level of the
women's risk perception, a ladder of motivation was
found in the results. The 4 patterns of motivation were
identified as: taking opportunities, clarifying confusion,
maintaining health, and illness monitoring. The 4-ladder
motivation model and its intertwined dimensions are
shown in Figure 1. The categories are further expanded,
and all names used in the analysis are pseudonyms.