Breast Self-examination Practice among Medical Postgraduate Female Students of Southern Odisha: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Breast cancer is on the rise among females in India. Breast Self-Examination (BSE) is an easy to learn, self monitoring screening modality which can be done in utmost privacy. A proportionate increase in incidence of breast cancer is now reported among urban educated females. Even doctors neglect their own health and are the at-risk population for Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Aim: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of postgraduates on BSE. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted between August 2021 to October 2021 at M.K.C.G. Medical College, Berhampur, Odisha, India. Study population included 100 female postgraduate students. A predesigned structured questionnaire was prepared by thorough review of literature and was validated by experts. Data was collected on knowledge, attitude and practice of BSE from the study participants using Google form. Scoring was done and correlation was found out between the parameters. Chi-square test and the Fisher Exact Test was used for statistical analysis. Results: About 82 respondents completed the form. About 66 (80.48%) were in age group of 25-29 years, 7 (8.53%) had family history of breast cancer, 8 (9.75%) had discovered abnormality while practicing BSE. The median scores in knowledge of breast cancer and BSE was 36 and 17 respectively. The median scores of attitude and practice were 42 and 13 each. Spearman's rank correlation between knowledge and attitude was positively correlated (r=0.324, p=0.003), attitude and practice was positively correlated (r=0.317, p=0.004) and knowledge and practice was not correlated (r=0.173, p=0.120). No significant difference in practice was found for participants with family history of breast cancer (p=0.353) and personal history of breast abnormality (p=0.672) and those who had no history. However a significant association was found between knowledge on frequency of BSE and monthly practice of BSE (p=0.003). Conclusion: In this study 50% of the participants did not know about the age of starting BSE as 20 years. All the steps were not followed by those who performed BSE. The most common reason for not practicing BSE was lack of time. Knowledge-practice gaps exist among the future professionals.