Abstract:
Background: - Breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in Ethiopia of all female cancers. It is considered to be a progressive disease with a poor prognosis if detected late. Regular breast self-examination is the most cost-effective method for early detection of breast cancer, especially in resource-limited countries. However, breast self-examination practice was low among reproductive-age women.
Objective: -The purpose of this study is to evaluate regular breast self-examination practice and associated factors among women who visit Adult OPD in selected health centers in Gulele sub city.
Methods: - We conducted a facility based cross sectional study in selected health centers in Gulele sub city, Data was collected using a semi structured self-administered questionnaire distributed to study participants. The respondents were selected based on Systematic random sampling method. The collected data was entered into EPI data and exported in to STATA Version 17 for analysis. Continuous variables are presented as mean and standard deviation, and categorical variables as frequency and percentages. Both descriptive and inferential statistics Procedures were executed.
Result: - From the study participants (634), 113(17.8%) practiced breast self-examination ever and 42(6.6%) practiced BSE regularly on a monthly basis. Having heard of BSE before, thinking BSE is important in the early detection of breast cancer, and good knowledge was found to have a significant association with the practice of breast self-examination.
Conclusion: -The rate of regular BSE practice among reproductive age group of women is low. The main reasons for not practicing BSE were: not knowing how to perform BSE (for regular practice). Therefore, integrated work on behavioral change communication and interference's that focus on improving knowledge of BSE, and skills on how to perform BSE is needed.