Female medical and nursing students' knowledge, attitudes, and skills regarding breast self-examination in Oman: a comparison between pre- and post-training

Abstract

Purpose: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide. Educative and awareness programs do impact early practices of breast self- examination resulting in early detection of cancer and thereby decreasing mortality. The study aimed to assess the level of knowledge and awareness of breast cancer and breast self- examination among medical and nursing students in Oman and to compare the knowledge on, attitude towards, and skills of students after the training program. Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study that was carried out for medical students from in the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, National University of Science & Technology, Oman and nursing students in the Oman College of Health Sciences and the Al Bathina Nursing institute in November 2019. The pre-test questionnaire was given before the training program and a post-test questionnaire was administered after the training program. Knowledge on, attitude towards, and skills of students on breast cancer and breast self-examination were compared. Results: Pre-test and post-test were collected from 170 students^90 students from medical, and 80 students from nursing schools. A significant improvement was observed in the post-test scores for knowledge on, attitude towards, and skills of students after the intervention (P < 0.001). Conclusion: An educational training program on breast cancer and breast examination with emphasis on skills can motivate the participants to perform breast self- examination regularly. Therefore, it may help students to train target women for the early detection of breast cancer.