Knowledge and practice related to the self breast examination of the female employees of the Adiyaman University

2. ABSTRACTKNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE RELATED TO THE SELF BREAST EXAMINATION OF THE FEMALE EMPLOYEES OF THE ADIYAMAN UNIVERSITYMany medical organizations in the world and also in Turkey recommend breast self-examination (BSE) in early diagnosis of breast cancer. This research has been used to determine the BSE knowledge and practice of the women working at the Adiyaman University.Target population of this definitive study was 258 female staff of the Adiyaman University. All of the population has been included in the study and 234 (90,7%) of them has been reached. The data of the study has been obtained by applying a face-to-face questionnaire technique with a survey consisting of 26 questions. The analysis of the data has been conducted by using the Pearson X2 significance test and Statistical Package for Social Science.50,4% of the women participated in the study were married, 80,8% of them held university or master diplomas, 45,7% were academic personnel and their average age was 30,0 (min:20, max:60). 81,6% of the participants had information on BSE which they acquired from television (27,9%) and doctors (23,4%). 89,6% of the women (173 people) practiced BSE and 49,0 % of these women made this examination once a month, 52,3% 5-7 days after the menstruation, 90,6% considered BSE as an early diagnosis method. It was found that 83,2% of the women use eye-check for BSE, 36,8% of them made the examination lying on bed and 69,7% by hand and standing. It was determined that 68,4% had no clinical breast examination by a physician. Research, higher education level, married-widowed-divorced women to have information about BSE and breast examination application rates was more. Women's work status and marital status information about BSE was found to have a statistically significant difference between conditions (p <0.05).In conclusion, it was determined that women had no sufficient knowledge of BSE as desired. The importance of BSE should be recognized and the works to be done should be supported.Keywords: Adiyaman University, female employees, breast self-examination.