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Real world research

Breast self-examination among community midwife and lady health visitor students in Pakistan

02 July 2024
Research
02 July 2024
Volume 32 · Issue 7

Abstract

Background/Aims

Breast self-examination allows women to check their breasts for changes or abnormalities, such as lumps, bumps and other irregularities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate understanding of performing a breast self-examination among lady health visitor and community midwifery students in Pakistan.

Methods

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2022–April 2023 with 50 students recruited through convenient sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Participants' understanding of breast self-examination was categorised as good (>70%), moderate (50–70%) or poor (<50%) based on their score.

Results

Only one participant had received any training on breast self-examination, and all participants reported that they would like training in future. Only 10.0% of participants had a moderate understanding of breast self-examination, while the remaining 90.0% had poor understanding.

Conclusions

There is a significant lack of knowledge about breast self-examination among lady health visitors and midwifery students in Pakistan. There is a need for education and awareness campaigns on breast self-examination to improve understanding.

With an estimated 2.3 million new cases in 2020, female breast cancer surpassed lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer (Sung et al, 2021). In 2020, breast cancer was the leading cause of cancer-related death (685 000 deaths) (Lei et al, 2021) and affected 25% (more than 1.5 million) of all cancer cases in women of all ages, with a higher incidence in young women (Jalil et al, 2019). In the UK, over 41 000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year (McCready et al, 2005). It is also the most common cancer among women in low–middle-income countries such as Pakistan (Rasool et al, 2019). Asia's highest rate of breast cancer is found in Pakistan and the proportion of women with breast cancer is anticipated to rise in the next few years (Saeed et al, 2021).

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Breast self-examination
Community midwives
Lady health visitors
Students