Breast Self-Examination in Terms of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice among Nursing Students of Arab American University/ Jenin

Abstract

Background: Breast  self-examination is a simple, very low cost, noninvasive  with no special material/tool requirements; and it is an effective diagnostic method for breast cancer which only takes five minutes to apply. Aim of the Study: The study aimed to assess the level of BSE knowledge, attitude, and practice among female nursing students in AAUJ. Subjects and methods: Descriptive, cross sectional study was used for conducting the study, a regular random sample has been used, 97 female nurses students  from nursing department of Allied Medical Science Faculty/AAUJ  were included. Data collected through; nurses’ socio-demographic characteristic, knowledge level towards BSE, Attitude level about BSE, and practice level towards BSE Scale which is developed by the researchers. Validity and pilot study were examined . Results: Study results have shown that 15.5% of the respondents had good overall knowledge towards BSE, The major source of information about BSE (57.6 % ) was mass media in the study, 75.3% of participants had positive attitude towards BSE, and  4.1% practice BSE always every month. There was a significant difference between age and academic level towards Knowledge of BSE. At the same time, there  was a significant difference between overall knowledge and practice of BSE (P= 0.000). Conclusion and recommendation: Most female nursing students had poor knowledge about BSE and did not perform BSE. Mass Media is an important source of  information about  BSE to improve awareness among the community.

Keywords: breast cancer, breast self exam, nursing female university students