Background: Early detection of breast cancer is the most important strategy to prevent deaths from breast cancer as breast cancers that found in early stages is easier to be treated successfully. This study aimed to measure the extent of awareness of Aljouf region residents with importance and methods of breast cancer early detection in females.
Methods: A cross-sectional research study of 1,026 participants from different cities in Aljouf province, aged above 18 years and successfully filled the online questionnaire from January to April 2022. Modified Breast Cancer Awareness Measure version 2 was used to assess the awareness of participants regarding early detection of breast cancer. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's chi-square tests were used to analyze the data.
Results: Results indicated that majority of participants were Saudi (98.1%), female (86.1%), aged 18-35 (77.6%), and single (62.2%) with university education (63.5%).There was no history of breast cancer in 75.8% of participant's families. The majority of the participants (68.7%) were had some knowledge about breast cancer early detection and its checkups, despite their answers containing little detailed information and a significant disparity in the correct answers.
Conclusion: The present study showed that more than two-thirds of the participants had a poor level of awareness about early detection of breast cancer. Knowing about checkup and general knowledge significantly was related to some socio-demographic factors such as age between 18-35 years, high educational level, employment, and marriage.
Keywords: Residents; Saudi Arabia; awareness; breast cancer; early detection.