KNOWLEDGE REGARDINGBREAST CANCER AND BREAST SELF EXAMINATION AMONG FEMALES

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most frequent cancers among the women. It can be detected earlier and survival rate can be improved by screening every year. Breast Self-Examination (BSE) is the one of the best method s for identifying breast cancer. Rural population has less access to medical facilities and their knowledge is low. Therefore, it is essential to educate them about breast cancer, its prevention and early detection. This study was aimed to assess the knowledge level of females regarding breast cancer and breast self-examination. Materials & Methods: Non experimental descriptive design was adopted for this study. 80 samples were selected through non probability sampling technique and the setting of the study was a rural community of Idukki district, Kerala. A structured knowledge questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: Majority, 57.5% of samples were having an average level of knowledge, 27.5% of samples had good level of knowledge and 8.7% of samples had poor knowledge and 7.5% was found havingexcellent level of knowledge. A significant association was observed between the knowledge and education (X2=14.061, P 0.05=12.54), knowledge and income (X2 =14.42, P 0.05=12.59) of women. But there was no association found between knowledge and other demographic variables.