Female College Students’ Attitudes Towards Healthy Eating Habits in the Rising Incidence of Breast Cancer in Japan

In low–middle-income countries, breast self-examination (BSE) is a simple, practicable, and appropriate tool for breast cancer screening. The goal of this study was to analyze female college students' knowledge and practice of BSE. A cross-sectional study of 200 female students was done using a convenient sampling technique. The self administered questionnaire with the socio-demographic data, questions about knowledge, attitudes and practice regarding BSE was used to collect the data among the female college students of an educational institution. The descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyse the data. The results show that the level of knowledge on BSE among 77% of the girls was inadequate and 61% of them had negative practice towards BSE. Despite the good attitude (69%) about BSE, there was inadequate knowledge and practice. The participants' age and family history of breast cancer was positively associated with their attitude (p = 0.01) and knowledge (p= 0.05) respectively. The study recommends the mass awareness campaigns related to BSE and early detection of breast cancer to be given to improve the knowledge, attitude and practice of the women and thereby reduce the related morbidity and mortality.

Download Full-text

Effect of video-assisted structured teaching program on knowledge of breast self-examination among female college students of Puducherry: a pre and post experimental study

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20204729 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (11) ◽

pp. 4351

Author(s):

Neethu Mariya Mathew ◽

Jayalakshmy Ramakrishnan ◽

Yamuna Thirvanthipuram Venkatesan ◽

Deepika Chandar

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

College Students ◽

Experimental Study ◽

Female College Students ◽

Teaching Program ◽

Breast Self Examination ◽

Female College ◽

Video Assisted ◽

Structured Teaching ◽

Self Examination

Background: Breast self-examination (BSE) is an easy method for early detection of breast cancer that can be performed by self at home. The present study was done to assess the effect of video-assisted structured teaching program on knowledge of BSE among female college students of Puducherry.Methods: This pre and post experimental study was conducted in September 2014 among 160 college students at government women’s college, Puducherry who were aged 18-26 years. The knowledge was assessed using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire following which breast self-examination techniques were taught to them using a video. The post-assessment was done after 14 days of teaching program using the same tool.Results: Of the 160 participants, 90% were undergraduates, 85.6% were Hindus, 58.1% were from rural area and 5.6% were having family history of breast cancer. The knowledge regarding the breast cancer was good even before the intervention and the media was the main source of information. The video-assisted structured teaching used in this study was effective to improve the overall awareness score for breast cancer and BSE significantly. The change in knowledge regarding the steps and the pattern of performing BSE was not statistically significant.Conclusions: The video-assisted teaching used was found to be effective in improving the knowledge regarding BSE. This type of regular health education with short videos can be a useful method for imparting knowledge to college students about BSE. However, the exact technique of performing BSE needs further reinforcement among the study participants.

Download Full-text