Breast cancer screening practices amongst female tertiary health worker in Nnewi

Breast cancer in Nigeria and other developing countries is characterized by late presentation and poor outcome due to ignorance, superstition, self-denial, fear of mastectomy, and unavailability of treatment facilities. The mortality of breast cancer in Western world is decreasing due to early detection and better management.

This study aims at accessing the knowledge, attitude, and practice of breast cancer screening among female tertiary health workers.

A cross-sectional descriptive study carried out using a structured, pretested, self-administered questionnaire to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of breast cancer and screening methods among female health workers.

The mean age of respondents was 31.70 ± 7.62 years. The level of awareness of breast cancer screening methods was high: 158 (98.75%), 127 (79.4%), and 144 (90.0%) for breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE), and mammography, respectively. However, only 47 (35.9%), 36 (22.5%), and 3 (1.9%) correctly practiced BSE, CBE, and mammography, respectively. The level of education and occupation showed significant correlations with the knowledge and practice of breast cancer screening methods.

Breast cancer screening still needs to be promoted to improve the attitude and practice among both health workers and general population.