Beni-Suef University Female Workers’ Breast Self-Examination Practices.

Research Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, with a rising fatality rate. With 19.3 million new cases predicted in 2025 due to aging, over half of cancer-related fatalities are in less developed countries. Early diagnosis and screening programs, including breast self-examination, clinical breast examination, and mammography, are crucial for controlling and preventing BC. Aim: The current study was conducted to assess Beni-Suef university female workers’ breast self-examination practices. Subjects and methods: Design: A descriptive cross-sectional design used. Sample: 323 working women at Beni-Suef University, selected using the Chandrasekharan equation. The target population was 1700 women, with a sample size of 323. Tools: (I): A Structured Interviewing Questionnaire Sheet. (II): Breast Self-Examination sub-items Checklist. Results: 74.9% of studied women did not practice breast self-examination, 48.3% of them notify that they did not know how it was practiced, 52.9% age of menarche at 10-12 years, 51.4%, and 46.1% of the studied women their age of pregnancy after marriage were 23-25 years old. It revealed that 65.3% of them did not wash your hands thoroughly during the examination, 82.4% did not look at arms to notice swelling or muscle weakness, and 85.4% did not putting hands on the thigh, 77.4% of the studied women during examining their right breast. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that most of the studied female workers had inadequate practices level regarding breast self-examination. Recommendations: Additional research on large samples of high risk women to assess their perception for the regarding breast self-examination should be implemented.

Research Keywords

practices, breast self-examination, female workers