[Breasts self examination - everything we want you to know about it - survey study]

Wiad Lek. 2019;72(1):56-63.
[Article in Polish]

Abstract

Objective: Introduction: Breasts self examination is first line prevention in case of breast cancer. It is cheap, it is easy and it can save your life. That is why it is so important that every woman and even man know how to do it. The aim: To estimate the level of knowledge about breasts self examination among women and also among people connected with medicine.

Patients and methods: Materials and methods: The data were gathered through the internet questionnaire, which contained of 14 questions. There were 204 respondents : 53% women and 47% men. Among them there were 93% people related with medicine. Average age was 23,5 years. The participation was voluntary and annonymous.

Results: Results: Among female respondents 57% admit doing breasts self examination, however only 23% of them do that regularly every month. Also only 36% of the respondents know how to do proper examination. When asked if they ever had their breasts examined by the doctor, only 20% replied positively. We also prepared questions for people connected with medical field: we asked them if doing breasts examination for the patient they would feel confident (61% replied negatively.) and also if they had a chance to do breasts examination during studies most of them replied negatively.

Conclusion: Conclusions: To conclude, even among women connected with medical field the knowledge is not enough, which is the most concerning since they should educate others and diagnose concerning symptoms. We should put more afford to break the tabu and pay more attention to breast examination.

Keywords: breast; breast cancer; breast examination; breasts self examination.

MeSH terms

  • Breast Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Breast Self-Examination*
  • Female
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Physicians
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult