RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BREAST CANCER LITERACY AND AWARENESS ABOUT BREAST SELF-EXAMINATION AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN
Keywords:
Breast Cancer, Literacy & Awareness, Risk Factors, Self-Examination, Female StudentsAbstract
Pakistan has the highest incidence rate of breast cancer in Asia. Pakistani women are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer. This risk necessitates breast cancer health education and literacy for women. Women who are educated about the disease and have positive healthcare seeking behaviors can timely diagnose this disease. This can significantly reduce the mortality rate of breast cancer and the national burden of this disease. This study aims to conduct an empirical study to assess breast cancer literacy and attitude towards breast self-examination (BSE) among females studying at university level in Pakistan. For this purpose, a cross sectional survey was conducted in different universities of Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi and 857 female students successfully completed the survey. Breast cancer literacy was measured through two constructs; knowledge about the symptoms of breast cancer and awareness about the risk factors of breast cancer. The respondents were also asked about the knowledge of BSE and the procedure of performing of BSE. This study concluded that female university students had higher level of knowledge about the symptoms of breast cancer. The findings indicate that almost two-thirds of respondents replied that they had never performed BSE. More than half of the respondents also wanted to learn about BSE. The results indicate that there was a significant relationship (x2 =5.633, p<.05) between knowledge about the symptoms of breast cancer and performing BSE at your own. Thus, there is a need to arrange workshops or seminars for female university students to train them on BSE.
References
Ahmed, A., Zahid, I., Ladiwala, Z. F. R., Sheikh, R., & Memon, A. S. (2018). Breast self-examination awareness and practices in young women in developing countries: A survey of female students in Karachi, Pakistan. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 7.
Ahmadian, M., & Samah, A. A. (2012). A literature review of factors influencing breast cancer screening in Asian countries. Life Sciences Journal, 9, 585-594.
American Cancer Society (2008). Breast Cancer Facts and Figures. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/CAFF2005BrFacspdf2005.pdf.
DeSantis, C. E., & Siegel, R. L. (2021). The importance of comprehensive data and statistical testing in the interpretation of breast cancer incidence trends. Cancer (0008543X), 12
Dündar, P. E., Özmen, D., Öztürk, B., Haspolat, G., Akyıldız, F., Çoban, S., & Çakıroğlu, G. (2006). The knowledge and attitudes of breast self-examination and mammography in a group of women in a rural area in western Turkey. BMC cancer, 6(1), 1-9.
Elmore, J. G., Armstrong, K., Lehman, C. D., & Fletcher, S. W. (2005). Screening for breast cancer. JAMA, 293(10), 1245-1256.
Fitzmaurice, C., Allen, C., Barber, R. M., Barregard, L., Bhutta, Z. A., Brenner, H., ... & Satpathy, M. (2017). Global, regional, and national cancer incidence, mortality, years of life lost, years lived with disability, and disability-adjusted life-years for 32 cancer groups, 1990 to 2015: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study. JAMA Oncology, 3(4), 524-548.
Gallicchio, L., Devasia, T. P., Tonorezos, E., Mollica, M. A., & Mariotto, A. (2022). Estimation of the Number of Individuals Living with Metastatic Cancer in the United States. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Hanif, M., Sabeen, B., Maqbool, A., Ahmed, A., Nadeem, F., & Habib, S. (2015). Breast cancer: Incidence (Thirteen-year data analysis) and one year clinicopathological data of patients in a tertiary care cancer hospital. International Journal of Biology and Biotechnology, 12(3), 373-379.
Hussain, M., Hasan, Z., Ali, M. A., Tapal, Z., Saeed, F., & Aiman, W. (2021). Delays in breast cancer diagnosis at a tertiary care facility in karachi, Pakistan. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad, 33(2), 248-251.
Heartfile. Islamabad, Pakistan: Heartfile, Ministry of Health and World Health Organization; 2006. Population-Based Surveillance of Non-Communicable Diseases: 1st round,
Karayurt, Ö., Özmen, D., & Çetinkaya, A. Ç. (2008). Awareness of breast cancer risk factors and practice of breast self-examination among high school students in Turkey. BMC Public Health, 8(1), 1-8.
Khan, N. H., Duan, S. F., Wu, D. D., & Ji, X. Y. (2021). Better reporting and awareness campaigns needed for breast cancer in Pakistani women. Cancer Management and Research, 13, 21-25.
Khalid, A., Hassnain, S., Gakhar, H., Khalid, B., Zulfiqar, F., & Wahaj, A. (2018). Breast cancer among young girls: KAP study conducted in Lahore. International Journal of Scientific Report, 4(6), 166-171.
Khokher, S., Qureshi, W., Mahmood, S., Saleem, A., & Mahmud, S. (2011). Knowledge, attitude and preventive practices of women for breast cancer in the educational institutions of Lahore, Pakistan. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 12(9), 2419-2424.
Kiani, N. N., Mehboob, T., Tabassam, N., Faheem, M., Aslam, R., Bashir, I., & Jamshaid, T. (2021). Awareness and Knowledge of Self-Assessment Tools for Breast Cancer among Female Students in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Public Health, 11(1), 47-50.
Masood, I., Saleem, A., Hassan, A., Sadeeqa, S., & Akbar, J. (2016). A quantitative study to assess breast cancer awareness among females in Bahawalpur Pakistan. Cogent Medicine, 3(1), 1236479.
Noreen, M., Murad, S., Furqan, M., Sultan, A., & Bloodsworth, P. (2015). Knowledge and awareness about breast cancer and its early symptoms among medical and non-medical students of Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 16(3).
Okobia, M. N., Bunker, C. H., Okonofua, F. E., & Osime, U. (2006). Knowledge, attitude and practice of Nigerian women towards breast cancer: a cross-sectional study. World journal of surgical oncology, 4(1), 1-9.
Pink Ribbon (2022). Founder and CEO Message. Retrieved from https://pinkribbon.org.pk/.
Rafique, S., Waseem, Z., & Sheerin, F. (2018). Breast cancer awareness, attitude and screening practices among university students: intervention needed. Biomed J Sci Tech Res, 4(5), 4-7.
Rasoolm, S., Iqbal, M., Siddiqui, A., Ahsan, R., Mukhtar, S., & Naqvi, S. (2019). Knowledge, attitude, practice towards breast cancer and breast self-examination among female undergraduate students in Karachi, Pakistan.
Rosenberg, R., & Levy-Schwartz, R. (2003). Breast cancer in women younger than 40 years.
Sarwar, M. R., & Saqib, A. (2017). Cancer prevalence, incidence and mortality rates in Pakistan in 2012. Cogent Medicine, 4(1), 1288773.
Siapush, M., & Singh, G. (2002). Sociodemographic variations in breast cancer screening behaviour among Australian women: results from the 1995 national health survey. Prev Med, 35, 174-180.
Soomro, R., Faridi, S., Khurshaidi, N., Zahid, N., & Mamshad, I. (2018). Age and stage of breast cancer in Pakistan: An experience at a tertiary care center. J Pak Med Assoc, 68(11), 1682-1685.
World Health Organization (WHO) (2022). Breast cancer-key facts. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhb60BhClARIsABGGtw9Xy-SgGMVDle0F0m7o3sK5R0LvmQ0_fIjwDc261cG_TJE7apGiA5gaAgkGEALw_wcB.
Zaheer, S., Shah, N., Maqbool, S. A., & Soomro, N. M. (2019). Estimates of past and future time trends in age-specific breast cancer incidence among women in Karachi, Pakistan: 2004–2025. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1-9.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 PAKISTAN ISLAMICUS (An International Journal of Islamic & Social Sciences)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.