Assessment of Knowledge on Breast cancer risk factors and the practice of breast self-examination among college educated female administrative employees in Fayoum University.

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide and it is the most prevalent cancer among Egyptian women. The very important factor in the prevention of progression of it is increasing the breast cancer awareness. Objectives: to asses level of knowledge on breast cancer risk factors and breast self-examination and also to determine if BSE is practice by target population and its attitude towards it. Methods: a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted on 89 female administrative employees working in Fayoum University from medical colleges. Data was obtained through the use of a structured questionnaire to measure the knowledge about breast cancer risk factors, knowledge about breast self-examination (BSE), attitude and practice. Results: Out of 89 study participants, the majority (87.6%) had heard about breast self-examination. Regarding the overall knowledge on breast cancer risk factors there were 9% had very good knowledge. There were more than 60% of participants who had either very good or good knowledge on BSE however, only 37.1% of the participants recognized that inspection and palpation together, are the methods of breast examination. Regarding the attitude toward BSE, 97% of our participants had satisfied attitude. Practicing BSE had a low percentage, about 38% with only 12.6% participants performing BSE regularly. Conclusion: few of our participants had very good knowledge about breast cancer risk factors. Although they have satisfactory attitude they do not perform BSE and the main reason for not performing BSE is the lack of specific training programs.