Assessment of the knowledge and attitudes of nursing and midwifery personnel about Breast Self-Examination

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. Monthly breast self-examination is one of the easy and cost-effective methods that does not require specialized personnel and equipment and has been introduced as the best method of screening. Among these, this question is suggested that whether nurses and midwives women have complete knowledge about it so they can teach others? Therefore, this study was performed with the aim to assess the knowledge and attitudes of nursing and midwifery personnel about Breast Self-Examination (BSE). This descriptive-analytic study was performed on 89 cases of nursing and midwifery personnel of Borojen Valiasr hospital in 2012. For data collection, the researcher made questionnaire of examining knowledge and attitudes about BSE and demographic information were used. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 21), independent t-test and spearman test. Mean level of knowledge about BSE in nurses was 9.48 ± 2.84 and in midwives 11 ± 1.52 that wit maximum score (20) was not in acceptable level. Mean level of attitude in nurses was 55.56 ± 5.09 and in midwives 55.23 ± 7.65. There were significant difference between mean levels of knowledge and attitude among participants (r=0.244, P=0.021). Nurses and midwives as the most populous community of health teams, not only do not have enough knowledge about BSE, but also do not have a correct attitude toward it. Therefore, it seems that it is necessary that educational planners and administrators of educating hospital staff should train this important health behavior to women staff.