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Jordanian nurses’ knowledge and practice of breast self‐examination
Author(s) -
Alkhasawneh Israa M.,
AkhuZaheya Laila M.,
Suleiman Samah M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2008.04891.x
Subject(s) - breast self examination , breast cancer , medicine , family medicine , breast examination , physical examination , demographics , nursing , gynecology , cancer , mammography , demography , surgery , sociology
Title. Jordanian nurses’ knowledge and practice of breast self‐examination.Aim. This paper is a report of a study to evaluate the knowledge and practice of Jordanian nurses in relation to breast self‐examination. Background. Studies have shown that women who have learned about breast self‐examination have positive attitudes toward breast cancer and practise breast self‐examination more frequently, and that nurses who teach their clients about methods of early detection and breast self‐examination are more knowledgeable about breast cancer screening and breast self‐examination techniques than those who do not. Therefore, it is important to understand nurses’ knowledge about breast cancer and its early detection. Methods. A cross‐sectional design was used, with a convenience sample of 347 Registered Nurses at three large cities in Jordan (response rate 95%). Data collection took place in 2005 using a self‐administrated questionnaire with three parts and based on the American Cancer Society’s guidelines: demographics, knowledge, and practice of breast self‐examination. Results. Nurses reported high levels of knowledge of breast self‐examination (M = 7·6, sd . 2·7). A high proportion of nurses reported doing breast self‐examination in the past 12 months (85%), but only 17·7% reported doing so on a monthly basis. None of the demographic characteristics was found to be associated with the practice of breast self‐examination. Conclusion. More health education about monthly breast self‐examination and prevention strategies is needed for nurses and their women patients, especially for Arabic women.