Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice about Breast Self-Examination among Mizan–Tepi University Mizan Campus Female Students Benchi Maji Zone Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Breast self-examination is one of the most cost-effective methods of screening for breast cancer detection at the early stage of the disease. The exact cause of breast cancer is not known but it is caused by multiple risk factors. It is a hormone dependent disease with a female to male ratio of 150:1. The incidence of breast cancer among blacks African American and low-income countries is low but the mortality rate from breast cancer is higher among low income countries due to late diagnosis of the disease. Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice about breast self-examination among Mizan–Tepi University Mizan campus female students who are attaining class by 2018 GC. Methodology: An institutional based descriptive type of cross-sectional study design was conducted on April in 2018 GC in Mizan–Tepi University, Mizan campus, regular female students with a self-administered questionnaire after selecting the required sample size of (369 students) with a multi stage sampling technique. The collected data has been checked for completeness by the group members and the analysis was done manually. Result: The result of our study revealed that there were 369 respondents, who gave with 98.1% response rate. Only 146 (40%) of the respondents had good knowledge 299 (81%) also had a positive attitude and about 18 (18.9%) had practicing breast self-examination (BSE) regularly/every month their main reason for not practicing BSE were lack of knowledge how to perform and I don’t have breast problem 133 (43.5%) and 102 (33.3%) respectively. Conclusion: The obvious lack of knowledge and large percent of poor practice of BSE among the study participants
Mizan–Tepi University Mizan campus regular female students highlights the urgent need for educational program as a tool for improving the current knowledge, attitude and practice of female students about breast self-examination through education, short term female student training, through health club and different leaflets related to breast self-examination.