Knowledge and Practice of Breast Self-Examination among Rural Women in South West Nigeria: Implications for Development of Women Empowerment Programme

Introduction: Breast cancer is among the leading causes of death among women globally. Its mortality and morbidity are highest in Africa despite the low prevalence. Sadly, breast screening has never been taking seriously in this region thus rendering management of the disease difficult. The study is designed to determine the knowledge and practice of breast screening among rural women in Imo State, Nigeria. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted using a multi-stage sampling technique to select 258 women from a sampled households. A pretested semi structured questionnaire was used for data collection and data analysis was done using mean scores and percentages. Results: The result showed that 87.3% of the women was aware of breast cancer and the dominant sources of information on the disease were radio/television (91.0%), internet (88.0%), friends (85.0%) and newspapers/magazines (79.0%). It was further found that most (83.7%) of the women knew that breast cancer affected only the breast, 76.7% knew that breast cancer can be detected by breast self-examination and screening. Also, 96.1% of the women knew that breast cancer affects only women while 84.9% knew it can only be detected in the hospital/clinic. On the practice of breast screening, the majority (79.5%) of the women indicated they had not been screened whereas only 5.0% had been screened. However, the result revealed that breast self-examination (92.3%) was the most popular screening method among the women followed by clinical breast examination (7.8%). It was also found that 79.5% of the women had been screened more than once in a year whereas 15.5% were not sure the number of times they had been screened. Conclusion: The study concludes, that in spite of the awareness and high knowledge of breast cancer and importance of screening in the area, the practice of breast screening among the women was very low. It is therefore, recommended sensitization campaigns on breast screening be intensified in rural areas.

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Breast Self-Examination Knowledge and Practice Level of Female Health Care Professionals who Work in Istanbul İstanbul’da Bir Sağlık Kuruluşunda Çalışan Kadın Sağlık Profesyonellerinin Kendi Kendine Meme Muayenesini Bilme ve Uygulama Durumları

Sağlık Bilimleri ve Meslekleri Dergisi ◽

10.17681/hsp.96005 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Nuran GENÇTÜRK

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Breast Self Examination ◽

Practice Level ◽

Knowledge And Practice ◽

Self Examination

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Assessment of knowledge and practice of breast self-examination among young women in tertiary education: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

10.21203/rs.2.12136/v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Negalign Getahun Dinegde

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Tertiary Education ◽

Early Stage ◽

Addis Ababa ◽

Unique Contribution ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Breast Self Examination ◽

Young Females ◽

Knowledge And Practice ◽

Self Examination

Abstract Abstract Background: Breast cancer is the top cancer in women both in the developed and the developing world. The Addis Ababa Cancer registry reported that breast cancer accounts for 34% of all female cancer cases. Many deaths can be avoided if the cancer can be detected and treated early. Practice of breast self-examination is a convenient, no-cost tool that can be used on a regular basis for detecting breast illness at an early stage. Therefore, this study sought to assess the knowledge and practice of BSE among young females at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: Institutional based cross sectional study was conducted on the total sample size of 381 females using self-administered questionnaire adapted from other studies. The data were entered using Epi-data software version 4.1.1 and then exported to SPSS version 24 for further statistical analysis. The study analysis was done by descriptive and inferential statistics: namely frequency, mean, student t-test, ANOVA, linear & logistic regression. Results: Majority of the participants were single (85.2%), orthodox Christian (67%), and grew up in urban (77.7%) with mean age of 20.84 years. The majority (94.1%) of the participants had no any family history of breast cancer. Almost half (52.5%) of the respondents had heard about breast cancer self-examination, while the media were the main source of information. The study revealed that only as little as 47 (13.1%) respondents did appropriate BSE, while two third of the females not practicing BSE reported that the reasons were, they didn’t know how to do it, forgetfulness, and didn’t have any breast problem. In addition, the females’ previous information about BSE makes the greatest unique contribution to explaining the BSE knowledge level. Moreover, the study indicates that the more age and knowledge the females have, the more likely it is that they will report practicing BSE. Conclusion: Further implementations are needed in addressing young females, making awareness and advocacy campaigns about BSE in order to increase early diagnosis of breast cancer which raises the chances for successful treatment in Ethiopia. Key words: Breast cancer, Breast cancer self-examination, Knowledge, Practice, Ethiopia.

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