Women's Perspective on Self-Breast Examination

Abstract

Background Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in the world. Timely detection is important to reduce the rate of deaths. Among the various screening modalities, self-breast examination is suggested as an easy, inexpensive method, especially in low-resource settings. Objective To understand women's perspective on self-breast examination and analyze the benefits and barriers of self-breast examination. Method The total number of study participants was 100. After obtaining informed consent, the study participants were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire on their perspective towards self-breast examination along with the benefits and barriers of performing the examination. Results Among the study participants, 66% of women were aware of self-breast examination. Only 8% were aware of the age to begin self-breast examination. Lack of privacy was considered as a barrier in 18% of women and embarrassment as a barrier was 14%. Almost all (99%) agreed that completing a self-breast examination each month may help them find breast lumps early. Conclusion The participants were reasonably aware of the term self-breast examination. But the clearcut procedure, the age to begin the examination and changes to be picked up on the examination were all unknown and hence must be emphasized at the society level. Overcoming the barriers and accepting the benefits of self-breast examinations are necessary to adopt this examination as a regular practice.

Keywords: barrier; benefit; breast cancer; breast lump; self-breast examination.