Self-examination for breast and testicular cancers: a community-based intervention study

The prevalence of cancers is growing rapidly in all parts of the word and Pakistan is no exception. Prevention is the best option to tackle this rising epidemic and screening, early detection and health awareness programs are cornerstones in this regard. A community-based interventional study was therefore her conducted to assess the effect of health education intervention about knowledge and practice of self-breast examination (SBE) among women and self-testicular examination (STE) among men. A total of 127 (70 females and 57 males) adults (>or=18 years) from an urban community of Karachi, Pakistan were included after giving informed consent. Interventions were in the local language (Urdu) and included educational and awareness sessions by symposia, lectures and hand-on practice demonstrations about SBE and STE. Informative leaflets and brochure were also employed. Pre-intervention assessment revealed that 57% women had knowledge of SBE and 4% men knew about STE and this proportion increased significantly (p<0.001) after intervention both in women and in men by 83% and 72%, respectively. Similarly, significant post-intervention improvements were reported for SBE and STE practices (p<0.001). Our results suggest that educational interventions at the community level increase the knowledge and practices of women and men for the SBE and STE.