OBJECTIVE:

To identify the influence of the disparate language (tutunaku and Spanish) between the messages and instructions issued by health personnel and those of the recipients of this information, in particular that directed at the practice of self-examination for the purpose of breast cancer prevention.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Descriptive, cross-sectional study, carried out on indigenous women over 20 years of age, to whom a semi-structured instrument was applied for the identification of risk factors and protection from breast cancer. To determine the association of Totonaku speakers' variables with the level of knowledge, prevention and risk of breast cancer, the test of 2 was used.

RESULTS:

A total of 187 women were studied; 109 (58.5%) spoke only tutunaku and 78 (41.5%) were bilingual (tutunaku and Spanish). The average age of participants was 43.4 years (SD 14.8), with limits of 20 and 80 years. With regard to schooling: 93 of 109 (85.5%) of the monolingual women were illiterate and only 44 of 78 (57.1%) of the bilingual women had completed basic education. With regard to knowledge of breast cancer, monolingual women had a lower level of knowledge and less practice of self-examination; only 34 of the 78 bilingual women practiced self-examination.

CONCLUSION:

Although the risk of breast cancer is not associated with speaking a language, it is directly associated with schooling, with the ability to understand instructions that allow the practice of self-examination.