Predictors affecting breast self-examination practice among Jordanian female university students

الملخص EN

Background : Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common types of cancer among women in both the developed and developing world.

Most women are diagnosed with BC in late stages of the disease ; efforts to fight it should start earlier with screening and early detection.

Aims : To evaluate the level of Jordanian female university students’ practice of breast self-examination (BSE), and to identify the predictors of their practice of BSE.

Methods : A descriptive, cross-sectional design was utilized.

Data were collected from 236 participants from a public university, in the southern region of Jordan during February-March 2017, using self-administered questionnaires.

Results : A minority of participants (37.5%) were found to practice BSE as frequently as recommended, which had a significant positive correlation with all aspects of knowledge regarding BC ; the highest correlation was with knowledge of BSE (r= .273, P<0.01) and the lowest was with knowledge of BC warning signs (r= .139, P<.05).

Similarly, participants’ practice of BSE had a significant positive correlation with their attitude toward it (r= .381, P<0.01).

Further analysis revealed a three-predictor model (knowledge of BC risk factors, knowledge of BSE, and attitudes toward BSE) that explained about 21% of the variance in participants’ practice of BSE (R2= .21, F (230)=13,02, P= .000).

Conclusion: Participants practiced less BSE than recommended, which was associated with attitudes toward and knowledge of BSE, BC warning signs and breast screening.

This study points to an emergent need to increase female students’ awareness about the importance of BSE by tailored educational programmes that promote their BSE practice.