Awareness about Breast self-examination among Nursing Students

Abstract

Breast cancer is an invasive tumor which mainly affect females and it has high mortality rate in developing countries due to lack of awareness and late diagnosis. The early diagnosis of breast cancer is not as much dangerous. The tools to detect breast cancer include mammography, breast self- examination (BSE) and fine needle aspiration cytology. The studies conducted shows the lack of perception about knowledge, attitude and practice about BSE. Objective: To determine the perception of BSE among nursing students. Methods: It was observational descriptive study conducted at College of Nursing DHQ Hospital Narowal. 174 nursing students between age 19 to 30 were enrolled in the study. A self-structured questionnaire was used which includes information about demographic data, knowledge, attitude and practice regarding BSE. Data were analyzed by using IBM- SPSS V-23. Results: The level of knowledge among nursing students about BSE was high and most of them know the accurate way of conducting BSE. The attitude of nursing students about BSE was positive. Most of them were agreed about the regular BSE. The practice about BSE shows mixed responses. Conclusions: In conclusion we can say that knowledge about BSE among nurses is good. However students seem to be unaware of the frequency and time of practicing BSE. This indicates the importance of conducting workshops to enhance perception about BSE.