Women are blessed with a kind heart, a sea of love, and a bundle of affection. They are, undoubtedly, a symbol of love and a pillar of strength. They are always there, like a beacon in the night. A woman is not only beautiful, but, a woman is a companion to a man, family and society given by God Almighty. Yes, women are indeed God’s most beautiful creation. Every woman should know this, and should live up to it. Women should respect themselves. Today, sadly, things have changed. Many women have no sense of their health and their wellness. Cancer has become one of the ten leading causes of death in India. According to Indian Council of Medical Research there are nearly 1.5-2 million cancer cases at any given point of time. Over 7 lakh new cases of cancer and 3 lakh deaths occur annually due to cancer. Nearly 15 lakh patients require facilities for diagnosis, treatment and follow up at a given time.3 The incidence of breast cancer is rising in every country of the world especially in developing countries such as India. This is because more and more women in India are beginning to work outside their homes which allow the various risk factors of breast cancer to come into play. These include late age at first childbirth, fewer children and shorter duration of breast-feeding.4 Breast cancer has increased incidence of among women residing in metropolitan cities. Statistically, breast cancer is supposed to be more common among unmarried women; those who are married, but have not had children; and those who have had children, but did not breast feed their babies. It is also related with smoking, alcohol drinking and high fat intake to the causation of breast cancer and this probably explains its etiological relationship to a modern lifestyle and environment.5 Materials and Methods: Descriptive survey design is selected using convenient sampling and 60 working women were selected as sample. A structured questionnaire is used to assess the knowledge of the working women regarding breast cancer. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: Part –A to collect the demographic data, Part-B consisting of questions regarding the various aspects of knowledge about breast cancer. Results: Major findings of the study revealed that the majority of 50%women belonged to the age group of 41-50 yrs, 75% women are married 50% are graduate, majority (40%) of women had two children and 40 never breast fed majority of women (40%) had a family monthly income of Rs. 20001-30000, and had no history of breast cancer running in the family. The mean knowledge score was 5.7 (SD 2.47) and 22% of the study population had poor knowledge regarding breast cancer. Demographic variables like age, marital status educational status, duration of breast feeding and family history were associated with the level of knowledge. A self-instructional module was prepared for use as a teaching aid and found effective with‘t’ value 17.77 at p<0.01 level. Conclusion: After the detailed analysis of the study findings showed that the earlier studies done on the knowledge of women regarding breast cancer. There is lack of knowledge even in the educated women regarding breast cancer. It is the responsibility of all the nursing educators, administrators and policy makers to find out the barriers in the gain of knowledge and should try to remove them and to develop strategies which can make emphasis on prevention and early detection of diseases
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Sep 30, 2024
Sheeliya White N + 1
Open Access