PRACTICE OF BREAST SELF-EXAMINATION AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG WOMEN AGED ABOVE 20 ATTENDING WOLKITE UNIVERSITY SPECIALIZED TEACHING HOSPITAL WOLKITE, ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the top cancer in women, and it is a global health problem. It may be a manageable disease, just in case of early diagnosis with sufficient treatment protocols like advanced surgical intervention, chemotherapy and radiation therapies. Breast self-examination is a screening technique that involves examining ones’ breasts for lumps distortions or swelling. Despite the high prevalence of reproductive organ malignancies across the country, there are no coordinated preventive education, or treatment initiatives. Therefore, in our situation, BSE is the most viable method for early identification of breast cancer. Objectives: To assess practice of breast self-examination and associated factors among women aged above 20 attending Wolkite University Specialized Teaching Hospital (WUSTH) Wolkite,Gurage zone Ethiopia, 2022. Methods: Institution based quantitative cross-sectional study design was carried out at WUSTH. With this study 275 sample were drawn by using random sampling technique, the data was collected using interviewer administered questionnaire, and then entered into SPSS version 23 for analysis. Descriptive statistics, frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviations were used. Binary logistic regression was computed to see association between dependent and independent variables. Association is considered statistically significant with p-value<0.05 at 95% confidence interval. Result: Two hundred seventy-five respondents (275) participated in the study giving 100% of response rate. The 39.3% of study subjects were in the age interval of 20-29. About 34.5% of study participants had good knowledge about BSE, 46.2% of participants had a positive attitude towards Breast Self- Examination), and 21.1% of study subjects had practiced BSE. Age in years; the age category of 40-49 years [AOR=0.061; 95%CI: 0.005, 0.769], primary education level [AOR=25.053;95%CI:3.168,198.108],secondary education[AOR=11.761;95%CI:2.780,49.754],tertiaryeducation[AOR=6.819;95%CI:1.466,31.7 12],knowledge towards BSE [AOR=0,036; 95%CI: 0.009, 0.143], and attitude towards BSE [AOR=0.047;95%CI:0.009,0.238] were significantly associated with the practice of BSE. Conclusion: The study showed inadequate knowledge, unfavorable attitude and low practice (21.1%) toward BSE. Age in years, educational status, attitude towards BSE, and knowledge of participants towards BSE have association with breast self- examination practice. Recommendation: Breast self-examination should be promoted by improving awareness and providing special health education for woman that had low educational level.