Effectiveness Of An Informational Leaflet On Knowledge Regarding Breast Cancer Among Women Of Reproductive Age

Introduction

Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in women throughout the world; it is a major public health concern .The incidence of breast cancer is increasing throughout the world. Although higher age-specific incidence rates for female breast cancer occur in developed countries, nearly half of the cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the next year will be in developing countries.¹

More than one million new patients suffer from breast cancer annually in the world. It is estimated that 2, 11,240 patients suffer from invasive breast cancer in a year in the United States. These numbers represent a sharp increase over the past 30 years. Currently, in India, the incidence of breast cancer has steadily increased over the years and as many as 1,00,000 new patients are being detected every year. The increase reported by cancer registries is nearly 12% from 1985 to 2001, representing a 57% rise in India's cancer burden.²

Based on National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR), report of (2001-03), about 25% of the total cancer cases among Indian women constitutes of Breast cancer. The crude incidence rate of Breast cancer at India level is about 85 per 100,000 women per year. It is estimated that about 85000 new cases of Breast cancer are occurring in India, every year. The mortality rate is around 7 per 100,000 cases per year.³

A case control study was done Pakseresht S, in Lok Nayak Hospital, regarding risk factors with breast cancer among women in Delhi. 332 women were studied. Subjects were women with breast cancer (N=115) and age matched Control subjects (N=217) without breast cancer, admitted Lok Nayak Hospital during 2006. Subjects were interviewed using a pretested questionnaire. The risk factors studied were age, parity, socioeconomic status marital status, breast feeding, menarche, menopause, family history. Results revealed that there was a significant difference between breast cancer cases and controls in relation to place of residence, occupation, marital status, body mass index and breast feeding.⁵

A community based, cross sectional study was carried out in 2007 by Somdatta P. to know the Awareness of breast cancer in urban women in South Delhi. Semi -structured interview method was used to collect information regarding breast cancer. A total of 333 women were included. The mean age was 36 years and 46% were illiterate. Fifty six percent women were aware of breast cancer, among them 51% knew about at least one of the signs & symptoms, 53% were aware that breast cancer can be detected early , and only 35% mentioned about risk factors. Study concluded that there is need for awareness generation programmes to educate women about breast cancer, propagation of correct messages and promote early detection of breast cancer. ⁶

The nurses play a vital role in health promotion and health maintenance and there are variety of techniques which can be adopted to impart knowledge. Hence the investigators felt to take up this study which will help women to be aware of the breast cancer and inculcate healthy lifestyle and also promote wellness to others.

Materials & Methods

In order to accomplish the main objective of evaluating the effectiveness of an information booklet on knowledge regarding breast cancer among women in the reproductive age one group Pre test Post test design was adopted. The study was conducted in Mattar village, Shirva panchayat of Udupi District. 100 women of Mattar village, Shirva Panchayat were selected by convenience sampling. After obtaining consent from the participants pretest was administered using structured knowledge questionnaire. After pretest researcher distributed information booklet on knowledge regarding Breast cancer to participants. Seven days later post test was administered to assess the knowledge. The collected data were analysed using descriptive & inferential statistics.

Results:

Main findings are discussed under the following headings

Section II:

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Figure I

Knowledge of women regarding breast cancer depicted in Pie diagram n=100

Above diagram shows that 52% (52) had poor knowledge and 48% (48) had average knowledge and none had good knowledge.

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Discussion:

The pre-test knowledge of the subjects showed that (52%) had poor knowledge and (48%) had average knowledge. The areas in which the all most all women had inadequate knowledge was Breast Self Examination and identifying the breast cancer at an earlier stage. This finding can be supported by a study conducted by Amdahl P. in CSI Kalyani Multispecialty Hospital, Chennai to know the effectiveness of structured teaching progamme on breast self examination for early detection of breast cancer among the nursing students. The students had in adequate knowledge of 38.3%. The effectiveness of programme showed high level of significance at p<0.0001 level. It showed that structured teaching programme was an effective method to improve the knowledge.

Conclusions

Breast cancer is the common cancer seen in the developing countries. It is more common in urban area. But due to the urbanization now it is common in rural areas too. Early detection of breast cancer can be enhanced by community oriented awareness programmes on breast cancer. In this context the health professional especially the nurses have a major role to play in helping the women to be aware about breast cancer and its early detection method, which is one of the most cost effective and most simple method that the BSE. Cancer education programme can be introduced at early age. It can be done at various settings.

Currently we are moved from the hospital oriented care to community oriented care. In the hospital cancer awareness programmers can be conducted in the general wards in OPD. . Primary level of prevention may not be possible to the fullest in all disease condition, due to the complexity of the causes. But the early detection and treatment is possible in all the cancer, by which the morbidity and mortality can be reduced. This is possible when the nurses are competent and equipped with their sound knowledge. It can be reflected to the public through the awareness programmes. In addition oncology nurses and Community nurses can easily carry out planned as well as incidental health education programmes for improving the knowledge of women on Breast cancer and BSE. The interaction between the nurse and the women leads to the primary aim of cancer awareness.