Knowledge and practice towards breast self-examination among accredited social health activists (ASHA) in the rural field practice area of a government medical college in north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

ABSTRACT

Background: Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in the world, and it is the main cause of death and morbidity in Indian women. Breast self-examination (BSE) is a routine exam that can detect 40% of breast abnormalities and involves two key components that is looking and feeling. Women should learn what is normal for them, so that they can recognize any changes immediately. Aim & objectives: 1) To assess Knowledge and Practice about Breast Self-Examination. 2) To assess awareness about warning signs of Breast cancer. Methodology: A Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 55 Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in the month of January 2021 in the Rural field practice area of Rural Health Centre (RHC) attached to the Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Visakhapatnam. A predesigned, semi structured questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge and practice of BSE. Data was entered in MS Excel and analysed using SPSS Version 17. Chi square test was applied to find out the statistical associations if any between categorical variables. Results: In the present study only 1.8% of the ASHA workers were found to have good knowledge. 41.8% and 56.3% had average and poor knowledge respectively about BSE. Out of 55 ASHA workers, 39 (71%) have heard of BSE, 25.4% were practicing regularly and 14.5% of them were practicing correct method. Conclusion: The Knowledge and Practice of BSE among ASHA workers was observed to be inadequate which points out the need for training programs to educate them.