Breast Self-Examination Compliance among Visually Impaired Adolescent Girls: A Nursing Interventional Study

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide; and its incidence is increasing in many countries. Breast SelfExamination (BSE) is a simple and easy way to detect any changes in the breast and helps in early detection of breast cancer. Purpose of the study: The purpose of the present study was to: evaluate the effect of a nursing intervention program on BSE compliance among visually impaired adolescent girls . Design: The study was conducted using quasi-experimental design to achieve the stated aim. Sample: A convenient sample of 14 adolescent girls was available. Setting: The study was conducted at Al Noor Institute for visually impaired students in Shebein El.kom City, Menoufia Governorate. Girl's knowledge regarding breast cancer, BSE and practice of BSE is inadequate before the BSE education program. Therefore; the targeted BSE education program was done for these adolescent blind girls to improve their early detection of breast cancer. Instruments: Instrument I: An Interviewing questionnaire, Instrument II consisted of 13 multiple choice questions about knowledge, Instrument III: A breast self-examination checklist and Instrument IV: compliance of the girls' with breast self-examination. Data were conducted using Lierman Instrument. Compliance was measured in terms of frequency and accuracy (Lierman, 1988). Results: There was a highly statistically significant difference in terms of knowledge and practice regarding breast cancer and breast self-exam between pre-posttest and compliance after 6 months. Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, it could be concluded that all the study participants had no knowledge about breast cancer and breast self-exam before the interventional program and also they did not know the procedure of performing breast self-exam. While after the interventional program, the study participants’ level of knowledge about breast cancer and breast self-exam was highly improved. Also they could perform breast self-exam. There for the research hypotheses were supported. Recommendations According to the findings of the current study, the following recommendations are proposed:The importance of conducting seminars about breast cancer prevention issues for girls in secondary schools and universities in their educational activities(extracurriculal activities) and breast cancer screening is recommended especially for girls with family history of breast cancr. Further Studies:Educational program about the importance of BSE and its practices by the female students in schools, vision impairment schools and universities should be held to increase awareness about early detection methods of breast cancer as BSE and awareness illustration posters of BSE, leaflets or braille books for visually impaired students in their schools libraries.