Knowledge, attitude, and practice of breast cancer screening among female health care professionals of a tertiary care hospital of Peshawar

Abstract

Breast cancer is identified as the second leading cause of death in women throughout the world. The role of health practitioners is important to sensitize and educate the community regarding its early diagnosis through self-examination techniques.
Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice about breast cancer and its diagnostic techniques among the female medical staff working in Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Peshawar.
Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to June 2016 on 150 female health professionals of Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Peshawar through convenience sampling. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included specific sections to test the participants’ knowledge, attitude, practices, and barriers related to breast cancer and its screening. Data analysis was done for descriptive statistics by SPSS 16.
Results: Majority of female staff (80.7%) who participated in this study were aged between 30-35 years; 36.7% were doctors and 54.7% were nurses. Most (81.3%) female health care staff had knowledge about the diagnostic techniques of breast self-examination and mammography. Knowledge of breast self-examination was significantly associated with its practices (p=0.048). Breast self-examination had been done by 54% in their lifetime, but the standard procedure of breast self-examination was not followed. Only 3.3% had ever performed mammography. Most females believed that the major barrier in performing breast self-examination and mammography are embarrassment and anxiety.
Conclusion: The magnitude of breast screening practices was not satisfactory among medical staff of HMC. Efforts should be made to influence the attitude and practices of health care providers through health education and awareness sessions so that they can sensitize the community about the alarming condition of breast cancer and the importance of screening.