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Cureus Apr 2024Background Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in the world. Timely detection is important to reduce the rate of deaths. Among the various...
Background Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in the world. Timely detection is important to reduce the rate of deaths. Among the various screening modalities, self-breast examination is suggested as an easy, inexpensive method, especially in low-resource settings. Objective To understand women's perspective on self-breast examination and analyze the benefits and barriers of self-breast examination. Method The total number of study participants was 100. After obtaining informed consent, the study participants were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire on their perspective towards self-breast examination along with the benefits and barriers of performing the examination. Results Among the study participants, 66% of women were aware of self-breast examination. Only 8% were aware of the age to begin self-breast examination. Lack of privacy was considered as a barrier in 18% of women and embarrassment as a barrier was 14%. Almost all (99%) agreed that completing a self-breast examination each month may help them find breast lumps early. Conclusion The participants were reasonably aware of the term self-breast examination. But the clearcut procedure, the age to begin the examination and changes to be picked up on the examination were all unknown and hence must be emphasized at the society level. Overcoming the barriers and accepting the benefits of self-breast examinations are necessary to adopt this examination as a regular practice.
PubMed: 38707074
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.58962 -
Awareness and practice of breast self-examination among female staff at Babcock University, Nigeria.Ecancermedicalscience 2023Despite the ever-growing breast cancer awareness campaigns in Nigeria, the practice of breast self-examination (BSE) continues to vary widely among women. We aimed to...
BACKGROUND
Despite the ever-growing breast cancer awareness campaigns in Nigeria, the practice of breast self-examination (BSE) continues to vary widely among women. We aimed to assess breast cancer awareness and practice of BSE among female staff at Babcock University, Ogun State, Nigeria.
METHODS
The cross-sectional descriptive design was adopted for this study. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire administered to 160 respondents. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23.
RESULTS
Although the majority of the respondents were highly aware of breast cancer (78.12%) and had good knowledge about BSE (96.9%), their practice of BSE was low. Only 11.3% always examine their breasts in the mirror by raising their hands over their head, looking at their breasts and examining it in a circular motion; 56% rarely looked for puckering, colour changes and dimpling of the skin when examining their breasts in the mirror, although 53.8% sometimes squeezed their nipples and looked for discharge when they examined their breasts.
CONCLUSION
Knowledge and positive opinions toward preventive strategies for breast cancer should not be interpreted as readiness for practice. Educational intervention programs emphasising the importance of early detection in managing breast cancer should be reinforced to birth the desirable change.
PubMed: 38414968
DOI: 10.3332/ecancer.2023.1615 -
Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) Aug 2023Breast cancer (BC) is a heavy burden for Indonesian healthcare, but there is still no thorough evaluation for Breast self-examination (BSE) practice as routine BC... (Review)
Review
Breast cancer (BC) is a heavy burden for Indonesian healthcare, but there is still no thorough evaluation for Breast self-examination (BSE) practice as routine BC screening. In this study, we aimed to synthesize the pooled prevalence data of BSE practice, compare BSE practice prevalence between Java Island and non-Java Islands in Indonesia, and identify the determinants that we thought could affect the BSE practice in the Indonesian population. Intensive searches were conducted in Cochrane Library, PubMed, Google Scholar, and SINTA (Indonesian Web of Science and Technology Index) from September 2017-2022. We utilized Review Manager 5.4 for conducting the meta-analysis. We found the overall national prevalence of BSE practice was 43.14% (95% CI: 36.08, 50.20, < 0.00001). BSE practice in Java Island was higher compared to non-Java Island (44.58% vs. 41.62%). The highest prevalence of BSE practice was found among university students, with a 49.90% prevalence. Good knowledge, good attitude toward BSE, family history of BC, family support, and BC information exposure were all statistically associated with a higher determinant of BSE practice. We concluded that BSE practice in Indonesia is still low, especially in non-Java Islands. Integrative and collaborative programs should be established to promote BSE as routine screening for BC.
PubMed: 37568940
DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics13152577 -
Frontiers in Oncology 2023Regular breast self-examination is the most cost-effective method for early detection of breast cancer, especially in resource-limited countries. However, breast...
UNLABELLED
Regular breast self-examination is the most cost-effective method for early detection of breast cancer, especially in resource-limited countries. However, breast self-examination practice was low among reproductive-age women.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to evaluate breast self-examination practice and associated factors among women of reproductive age in southeast Ethiopia.
METHODS
A convergent parallel mixed-methods study design was conducted on 836 women of reproductive age. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for the quantitative part of the study and supplemented by focus group discussions. A database was created using Epi-info version 3.5.3, and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were done to examine the effect of explanatory variables. Variables with -value <0.05 during multivariable logistic regressions were considered as significantly associated with the dependent variable. Thematic data analysis was carried out for the qualitative study.
RESULT
Out of 836 total participants, only 20.7% had ever heard about breast self-examination practice. Also, only 13.2% of the mothers had practiced breast self-examinations. Even though the majority of the participants during focused group discussions had knowledge about breast cancer screening, most of them stated that breast self-examination was not practiced among them. Maternal age, mother's level of education, and previous history of breast examination by health professionals were significant predictors of breast self-examination practices.
CONCLUSION
This study reported a low prevalence of breast self-examination practice. Therefore, enhancing women's education and encouraging breast examination by health professionals are essential to increase the proportion of women performing breast self-examination.
PubMed: 37361589
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1176022 -
PloS One 2023Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and also among Nepalese women. Breast self-examination is an important, cheap, and easy method for early...
BACKGROUND
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and also among Nepalese women. Breast self-examination is an important, cheap, and easy method for early diagnosis of breast cancer which can be cured in the majority of cases if diagnosed in the early stages. In developing countries like Nepal where the awareness regarding breast cancer and breast self-examination is poor, breast cancers are diagnosed at late stages resulting in a poor prognosis of the disease. The study assessed knowledge, practice, and factors associated with breast self-examination.
METHODS
A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 262 women in the Butwal sub-metropolitan adopting multi-stage sampling. A pre-tested structured interview schedule and an observation checklist were used to collect the data. Data was entered in EPI-data and necessary univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were done in SPSS.
RESULTS
The study found that more than half of the participants (55.3%) had poor knowledge of BSE. Only one-fourth (27.1%) of them were practicing BSE and among them, most of them (93.0%) had poor practice. The factors such as ethnicity from Brahmin/Chhetri [AOR = 2.099, 95% CI (1.106-3.981)], use of contraceptive devices [AOR = 9.487, 95% CI (2.166-41.558)], personal history of breast lump [AOR = 12.502, 95% CI (1.639-95.387)], family history of breast cancer [AOR = 5.729, 95% CI (1.337-97.512)], and knowledge of BSE [AOR = 4.407, 95% CI = 2.160-34.650)] were significant determinants of BSE practice among 20-49 years women.
CONCLUSION
The study concluded that most of the women had poor knowledge and practice of breast self-examination. The study also indicated the influence of ethnicity, contraceptives, personal and family history of cancer/early warning signs, and knowledge for practicing breast self-examination. There is an immediate need to increase the knowledge and practice of breast self-examination to prevent and detect breast cancer in its early stage.
Topics: Female; Humans; Aged; Nepal; Cross-Sectional Studies; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Breast; Breast Neoplasms; Breast Self-Examination; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 37267248
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286676