Knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of female university students in Palestine toward breast cancer and breast self-examination

الملخص EN

Breast cancer, being the most prevalent cancer among women worldwide, leads to about 400,000 deaths yearly.

All women should have a basic understanding of breast self-examination (BSE).

This study aims at determining university students’ knowledge, behavior and beliefs about breast cancer and BSE.

Data were obtained using a structured questionnaire that was distributed over 1200 female university students in 6 Palestinian universities.

The questionnaire evaluated the students’ knowledge, behavior, and attitudes about breast cancer and BSE.

The study revealed that 86% of the participants had an awareness of breast cancer and 33% were aware of the term BSE.

Only 45% of the participants had ever performed BSE.

The study also revealed some misconceptions related to breast cancer; about half of the participants believed that breast cancer certainly leads to death and 24% of them believed that a person can have breast cancer only if they had a family history.

Further efforts need to be done to expand women’s knowledge about breast cancer, early detection and treatment.