EVALUATION OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE TOWARDS BREAST CANCER SCREENING AMONG STAFF IN SELANGOR UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Breast cancer screening is crucial in early detection of breast cancer. Therefore, people at least must know how to practice Breast Self-Examination (BSE), mammography and Clinical Breast Examination (CBE). Participants were selected randomly among Selangor University staff to answer self-administered e-questionnaires regarding knowledge, attitude and practice of breast cancer screening. Subsequently, two qualified observer were observed participants’ ability to palpate and count the lumps on breast phantom. Overall, 58.2% were aged 31 to 40 years with the mean 2.26 ± 0.697. 44% of them have Master degree by mean 4.21±1.243 with majority 53.9% have medium level of BSE knowledge while 58.2% of them have high knowledge on mammography. Majority 64.6% of respondents feel somewhat confident on palpating the lump, 41.8% feel confident in counting number of lumps and majority 54.4% was not confident on using proper technique on BSE. 97.8% agreed that BSE is necessary to check any abnormalities in the breast while 93.4% agreed it’s good to practice. 71.4% of them have done BSE before with majority 53.8% started at the age of 26-35 years old. 41.9% have done their mammography because of having family members with breast cancer. 38.5% respond that mammography is costly and 30.8% said it is very painful to be done. In conclusion, majority of them has medium level of knowledge on BSE, knowledgable on mammography, able to palpate and count the lumps on the breast phantom but not that confident in using proper BSE techniques.