Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on Breast Self-examination among Adolescent Girls in Selected College, Guwahati, Assam

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in Indian women second only to cancer cervix. It is the most frequent cancer among women, impacting 2.1 million women each year. It is a group of diseases in which the cells in breast tissue changes and divide uncontrolled, typically resulting in a lump or mass. Breast self-examination is an important screening measure for detecting breast cancer. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study is to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on breast self-examination among adolescent girls in selected College, Guwahati, Assam. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pre-experimental one group pre-test post-test design was adopted for the study. In this study, 60 adolescent girls of 11th standard Arts Stream, Handique Girls’ College were selected by using simple random sampling technique. The tools used for the study were demographic variables, knowledge questionnaire on breast self-examination. The analysis was done by using descriptive and inferential statistics in terms of frequency distribution, percentage, mean, standard deviation, paired ‘t’ test and chi square. RESULTS: The findings of the study revealed that the post-test knowledge score (18.36) was significantly higher than the pre-test mean knowledge score(10.65) as evidenced by t=16.31 (p<0.001) and tabulated value of t59 was 2.00 at 0.001 level of significance, which represents the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on breast self-examination. It also revealed that there was significant association between pre-test knowledge score and selected demographic variables of educational level of father and educational level of mother. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that the structured teaching program was effective in enhancing the knowledge of adolescent girls on breast self-examination.