Open AccessKNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARD BREAST SELF-EXAMINATION AMONG YOUNG ADULT NURSING STUDENTS IN A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN MALAYSIA
Author(s) -
Norazilah Khalip,
Khairil Anuar Mohd Isa,
Norizan Masri,
Haliza Abdul Rahman,
Nooraziah Jalil,
Siti Zuhaida Hussein,
Suraya Hanim Abu Bakar
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the malaysian journal of nursing/the malaysian journal of nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2462-246X
pISSN - 2231-7007
DOI - 10.31674/mjn.2021.v13i02.004
Subject(s) - breast self examination , breast cancer , medicine , family medicine , positive attitude , descriptive statistics , intervention (counseling) , cross sectional study , nursing , psychology , gynecology , cancer , social psychology , pathology , statistics , mathematics
This study aims to identify the knowledge and attitude towards breast self-examination among undergraduate nursing students in the public university at Peninsular Malaysia. The method used in the study is a cross-sectional descriptive study that was conducted among 188 undergraduate students studied in a public university at Peninsular Malaysia. The level of knowledge and attitude of breast self-examination (BSE) measured using self-administered questionnaires. All data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 23.0 for Windows. The result of the study showed 33% of respondents had experienced BSE. 79.3% of respondents have good knowledge of cancer breast and BSE. 86.7% of respondents know about BSE and 35.1% of respondents had a positive attitude towards BSE. The educational level was found to have a significant relationship with an overall knowledge of breast cancer and BSE (p >0.001), and attitude towards BSE (p >0.001) and breast self-examination experienced (p >0.001). In conclusion, nursing students had good knowledge of breast cancer but they had not experienced BSE and have a negative attitude in practising BSE. An intervention should be designed to enhance nursing students’ proficiency in performing BSE.