Abstract

ARAUJO, Verbena Santos et al. Women´s basic knowledge about breast self-examination. Rev. Enf. Ref. [online]. 2010, vol.serIII, n.2, pp.27-34. ISSN 0874-0283.

Breast cancer is one of the most serious public health problems because of its high incidence, epidemiological importance and social magnitude. This study investigated women’s knowledge about self-examination by identifying those who do it and how often they do so. This was a quantitative study, conducted in the Health Strategy of Pedreira Family I, in Campina Grande / PB. It was directed at women aged between 30 and 39 years, using a sample of 20% of women enrolled in the unit. The empirical data were obtained by questionnaire, which was subjected to thematic and statistical analysis. The results showed that 94.59% of the women knew about breast cancer, 83.7% reported knowing how to prevent it, and 67% reported doing breast self-examination, of whom only 16% did so regularly. After analyzing the data, we found that most women still had questions about the timing of self-examination, hence the importance of appropriate prevention programmes. It is essential to invest in public health policies that inform and encourage the practice of self-care at the right time, aiming at prevention and consequently decreasing the statistics reported for breast cancer.

Keywords : breast neoplasms; prevention and control; self-examination; self care.

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