Nursing College Students’ Knowledge on Male Breast Cancer

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is still poorly studied, onsetting one man for each one-hundred woman group. This study aims to assess the nursing college students’ knowledge on male breast cancer and male performance in the technique of breast self-examination at a university in the city of Vitoria da Conquista in 2007. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The research is a descriptive one involving primary data collection in its quantitative character. Among the 586 nursing students, 99 were included in the sample. We applied a structured form and visual analysis of the achievement of male self-breast examination using a prototype called “male breast friend” made ??by the author of the study. The data analysis was descriptive and for the statistics data organization the Microsoft Excel 2003 was applied. RESULTS: The students involved in the process attended from the 2nd to the 9th semester of the nursing course, were between 18 to 55 years of age and 83% were females and 17% males. Among them 84% said that they knew male breast cancer, 61% asserted that they didn’t get information on male breast cancer at the university. They described as specific signs and/or clinical findings of this type of cancer: hardened masses in the region of the breast areola, pain in the breasts, enlargement of the breasts and mamillary discharge, respectively.56% believe that this neoplasia has inherited traits, 87% said that this malignant neoplasia can cause metastasis, 93% believe that there is treatment for it. 83% of the students reported knowing the correct technique for breast self- examination. As for the simulation of the implementation of the self-examination using the “male breast friend”, 45% of the students did it correctly, 46% incorrectly and 8% refused to do it. DISCUSSION: The students mentioned the principal signs described in the literature for this type of neoplasia. However the heredity and the way it can be treated have been the cause of lack of knowledge among the students. When comparing the variable of “knowledge of the correct self- examination technique” and “simulation of the self-examination practice”, we truly realized that the students know the self-examination but have not been able to affirm that they know how to do it correctly, for 46% of them performed such a technique incorrectly.