Knowledge of breast self-examination in women in Sierra Leone

Abstract

Curationis 30(4): 38-44This research is a follow up of a Breast Week which was organized in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The specific objective o f this study was to assess the effectiveness of the knowledge and teachings given to the women who participated in this project. A quantitative approach with an exploratory descriptive design was adopted and an observational checklist guided the data collection process. A sample size o f 120 women (10%) who participated in the Breast Week was obtained through systematic sampling. During the Breast Week women were taught how to examine their breasts using breast self-exam ination (BSE) to detect abnorm alities o f the breasts. This study was undertaken one year later by the researcher to ascertain whether the information on breast self-examination provided during the Breast Week was being utilised and whether what was taught was being put into use. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 11.5. Reliability and validity were ensured through the use o f a structured observational checklist and a pilot study was undertaken. The observations were all observed and recorded by the same researcher. The majority o f the 120 women (91.7%) stated that they had never practiced BSE before the Breast Week. After receiving health education on BSE, 95% were able to dem onstrate an effective method o f undertaking BSE. It is thus recommended that every opportunity should be utilized in health care settings to teach BSE and to reinforce the practice, especially in poverty stricken countries where other forms of screening methods are unavailable.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices toward breast cancer screening in a rural South African community

“…Level of awareness regarding how to perform simple life-saving diagnostic breast checks such as BSE further compounds the problem of late detection. Empowerment of women with information on BSE is of paramount importance, especially in countries without modern technologies for breast cancer screening (Shepherd & McInerney 2007 :38). South African rural communities have limited technological resources, but BSE can contribute greatly if women are informed about this technique and regular practice would reduce late presentation.…”

Approaches to improving symptom appraisal: a systematic literature review

“…Of these 29 studies, 13 were categorised as having low risk of bias,36–48 10 were categorised as having moderate risk of bias,49–58 and 6 were unable to be assessed due to a lack of detailed evaluation of the developed approaches 59–64. The raw scores of these studies were shown in online supplemental file 3.…”

“…Of the 29 studies included in the synthesis, 16 focused on cancer,36–42 49–54 59–61 5 on respiratory diseases,43 44 55 62 63 3 on cardiovascular diseases45 46 64 and 1 each on other health conditions including concussion,56 labour,57 malaria,47 neonatal illness48 and RA 58. Six were community-based studies engaging various parties (eg, educators and women leaders) in the communities and employing different outreach efforts (eg, flyers and radio advertisements),37 39 47 52 61 64 among which two involved training of both laypersons and health providers 47 64. Five studies reported only the development of approaches,59 60 62–64 while the remaining 24 reported both the development and evaluation of approaches using quantitative and/or qualitative measures (online supplemental file 4).…”

Knowledge and Attitudes about Breast Cancer among Women: A Wake-Up Call in Nigeria

“…Level of awareness regarding how to perform simple life-saving diagnostic breast checks such as breast self-examination (BSE) further compounds the problem of late detection. Empowerment of women with information on BSE is of paramount importance, especially in countries without modern technologies for breast cancer screening [17]. Most of the Nigerian rural communities lacked the required technological resources [18], but BSE can contribute greatly if women are informed about this technique, and regular practice would reduce late presentation [14].…”