J Educ Eval Health Prof.  2020;17(1):37. 10.3352/jeehp.2020.17.37.

Female medical and nursing students’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills regarding breast self-examination in Oman: a comparison between pre- and post-training

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Pathology, College of Medicine & Health Sciences, National University of Science & Technology, Sohar, Oman
  • 2Department of Surgery, College of Medicine & Health Sciences, National University of Science & Technology, Sohar, Oman
  • 3Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine & Health Sciences, National University, of Science & Technology, Sohar, Oman
  • 4Department of Pharmacology, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal, India
  • 5Department of Periodontology, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Melaka, Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide. Educational and awareness programs impact early practices of breast self-examination, resulting in the early detection of cancer and thereby decreasing mortality. The study aimed to assess the levels of knowledge and awareness of breast cancer and breast self-examination among medical and nursing students in Oman and to compare their knowledge, attitudes, and skills after a training program.
Methods
This quasi-experimental study was carried out for female 90 medical and 80 nursing students in Oman in November 2019. A pre-test questionnaire was given before the training program and a post-test questionnaire was administered after the training program. Students’ knowledge, attitude, and skills regarding breast cancer and breast self-examination were compared. Scores for skills of practicing breast self-examination were compared between lecture and activity group and lecture-only group.
Results
Pre-test and post-test data were collected from 170 female students. Significant improvements were observed in the post-test scores for students’ knowledge, attitude, and skills after the intervention (P<0.001). The mean scores for skills of practicing breast self-examination after the lecture and the activity were higher than those obtained after the lecture only (P=0.014 for medical students and P=0.016 for nursing students).
Conclusion
An educational training program on breast cancer and breast examination with an emphasis on skills can motivate participants to perform breast self-examination regularly, and may therefore help students to train other women to perform breast self-examination for the early detection of breast cancer.

Keyword

Breast neoplasms; Breast self-examination; Early detection of cancer; Nursing students; Medical students
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