Breast self-examination knowledge, attitude, and practice among Jazan women, Kingdom od Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. It is a major cause of cancer death, and its incidence rate has been  gradually increasing in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia has a higher proportion of young females getting breast cancer than other countries.  This study was conducted to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding breast self-examination among females from 20 to 60 years old in Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia. Using A Community-based descriptive cross-sectional approach, data were  gathered from 567 Saudi and non-Saudi women using structured interviews and then analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social  Sciences (IBM) version 21.0 software program. Where the study indicated that around half of the participants (55.7%) had good total  knowledge scores regarding breast self-examination, and most had positive attitudes. However, only 205 (36.2%) respondents practice it  regularly. Moreover, the study reveals a significant association between respondents' knowledge and attitudes toward breast self- examination (P = 0.05). These findings indicate moderate knowledge, poor breast self-examination practices, and a significant association  between knowledge and attitudes .Therefore, conducting health education programs is necessary to raise awareness about  breast self-examination (BSE) among Jazan women.