Knowledge and Attitudes of Breast Cancer, Breast SelfExamination and Mammography among Female Students in Saudi Arabia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/ijphrd.v11i11.11387Keywords:
Breast cancer, Breast Self-Examination, MammographyAbstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of Breast cancer, Breast
self-examination (BSE) and mammography among female students in the College of Applied Medical
Sciences.
Methods: The study was conducted at College of Applied Medical Sciences in University of Hafr AlBatin. after being approved by the local research Ethics committee. The sample was consisted of 200
undergraduates’ female students from third and fourth academic year. The questionnaire consists of four
sections: demographic data, knowledge of BC, BSE and mammogram (21 questions), knowledge of risk
factors (7 questions), and attitudes (17 items. The findings revealed that 71% of the respondents had good
knowledge of breast cancer, 63% had satisfactory level of breast self-examination, and 53% had poor level
of mammogram. Furthermore, 72% and 59% of respondents had positive attitude towards BC and BSE
respectively, while 69% of them had negative attitude regarding mammogram.
Conclusion: Lack of knowledge and attitudes about BSE and mammogram practice among female students
may due to their beliefs that young women are not at risk and do not need to be aware with all breast cancer
screening methods.