Knowledge and Practice of the Breast Self-Exam on Students from a Public University in Lima

Abstract

Objective: The study was intended to determine the knowledge and practice of breast self-examination amongst college students of the Professional Academic School of Human Medicine and the Faculty of Education at a public University in Lima, Peru. Materials and methods: We performed a quantitative, cross-sectional, qualitative and phenomenological study, which consisted of surveying (124) students in total, (108) from the Professional Academic School of Human Medicine and (16) from the Faculty of Education, additionally performing in-depth semi-structured interviews of an intentional sample of (13) students of the Professional Academic School of Human Medicine and the Faculty of Education. Results: The subject knowledge was associated with the practice of the breast self-examination among the students; in this regard, we found a P<0.05 of 0.031. Among the (124) students, 89.59% reported knowledge about the subject and 62.10% reported practicing the habit of self-examination. However, 64% of the respondents from the Professional Academic School of Human Medicine and 62% from the Faculty of Education did not report performing breast self-examination in the appropriate cycle. Nonetheless, (93%) of the respondents from the Professional Academic School of Human Medicine specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, as well as (100%) of the Faculty of Education, Biology and Chemistry respondents, correctly carry out the palpation on their breasts. Maternal presence in the cancer screenings is important for the practice of breast selfexamination among the students of the Professional Academic School of Human Medicine. Furthermore, the influence of televised media is an important determinant of the discussion that the students of the Faculty of Education have with their mothers, on the habit of selfexploration of the breasts.