Practice of Breast Self Examination among Childbearing Mothers in Agbani Health District, Enugu State

Abstract

Breast is one of the finest physical features of a woman, that contribute largely to her beauty and as such the utmost desire of women is to keep the breast looking beautiful from adolescence to old age without developing health problem like breast cancer. This problem, if not detected early through breast self-examination may cause many women to lose their breast to cancer, hence the purpose of the study was to ascertain the extent of the practice of breast self-examination among child-bearing mothers attending health facilities in Agbani Health District, Enugu State. One purpose of the study, one research and two null hypotheses guided the study. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The sample was 440 CBMs sampled from a population 13,428 through multi-stage sampling procedure. A valid and reliable questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research question while t-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that women practice breast self-examination to a low extent(x=2.35, SD=1.04). Tested hypotheses showed significant differences between the responses of CBMs in Agbani health district on the extent of the practice of breast self-examination (BSC) by educational status and location. Based on the findings, recommendations were made which include, that women should be taught and shown the practical lesson of breast self-examination at health facilities.