AWARENESS and PRACTICE of BREAST SELF EXAMINATION (BSE) AMONG 20-60 YEARS WOMEN

The aim of the study was to examine the awareness and practice of BSE among 20-60 years women. A total of 253 women aged between 20-60 years old who live number 15, health center in Karatay District, Konya city were included in the study. A questionnaire which was developed by the researchers based on literature and Champion's Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS) were used to collect data. Data was collected by a researcher with face-to-face interwiev in home visits.. Avarage and percentage distrubition were analysed by using student t-test, mann-whitney U test and Chi-square. Of women, 66.9 % were 39 years and younger. Most of the women's educational level (89.7 %) are primary school or below, most of them have children (93.3 %) and have social security (73.6). Of women, 86.2 % don't perform BSE and % 13.8 perform BSE but not regularly bases and there isn't any women who perform BSE regulary bases. The study showed that educational level and history of breast canser in the family were related to perform of BSE (p<0.05). Based on the finding of BSE was not performed montly bases, we can conclude that, althought increasing the rate of breast cancer in our time, knowledge and awarenes of BSE was not increased.