2023, Vol. 5, Issue 1, Part B

Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cause of cancer morbidity and mortality among women in most parts of the world. Breast cancer has been considered as a major health problem in females, because of its high incidence in recent years. Breast cancer is the commonest form of cancer in women in western countries and second most common in women in developing countries like India. In the absence of an exact etiological agent for breast cancer, the most appropriate way of controlling it is by early detection and treatment Breast self-examination (BSE) has a role in early diagnosis and prevention of morbidity and mortality rate of breast cancer.

Methodology: An evaluative research approach with Quasi experimental one group pre-test post-test design was adopted for this study. The design did not include any control group. Fourty Samples were selected by simple random sampling technique.The study was conducted for the women in one group, as they gathered together for their monthly meeting at one place. On the first day, the demographic data was collected and pre-test was conducted by using structured knowledge questionnaire and planned teaching programme regarding BSE was administered. Post-test was conducted on the seventh day by using the same structured knowledge questionnaire.

Results: The mean post-test knowledge score (x̅2=22.6) was greater than pre-test knowledge score (x̅1=13.2).Also Area wise post-test mean score was higher in all the aspects such as meaning and purpose of BSE, breast changes and warning signs, risk factors and early detection, time schedule and instructions, steps and methods, and general information compared to the pre-test score.

The mean difference between the post-test and pre-test knowledge score was highly significant (t39=23.79) (table value: t39=2.02, p≤0.05) at 0.05 level of significance. The mean difference in post-test and pre-test was 9.4. The findings are highly significant and it can be inferred that planned teaching programme regarding breast self-examination was highly effective in improving the knowledge of women regarding breast self-examination.

There was no significant association between pre-test level knowledge score and selected demographic variables such as age (χ2=2.19), marital status (χ2=0.5), occupation (χ2=0.327), and education (χ2=2.597), at 0.05 level of significance.

Conclusion: Findings of the study showed that the knowledge of the self-help group women regarding breast self-examination was less before the administration of the PTP. The PTP facilitated them to gain more knowledge about breast self-examination which was evident from the post-test knowledge scores.