Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in women worldwide and is a major health concern.

Objectives: This study was designed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of breast self-examination (BSE) and the factors associated with the practice of BSE among rural women.

Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in the field practice area of Government Medical College in rural area in Haryana, India. Women aged 20–50 years’ residents of the rural study area were included in the study. The required information was collected by the investigators on a pretested, semi-structured schedule from randomly selected study subjects by house-to-house visits.

Results: The highest number of women was in the age group of 20–25 years (38.67%), and more than three-forth women were currently married. Only one-third study subjects had heard of breast cancer. Of them, only 17 (5.7%) were aware about early detection of breast cancer. Only 4 (1.3%) women were aware of something about BSE and no one was aware of about all steps of proper BSE.

Conclusion: The study highlights that awareness about breast cancer was low, and for proper BSE, it was almost negligible among rural women. Only one-third study subjects had heard of breast cancer, whereas only 4 (1.3%) were aware of something about BSE and no one was aware of proper steps of BSE.

Key words: Breast Cancer; Breast Self-examination; Awareness