Assessment of nurses knowledge and attitudes about breast cancer

Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women with an increasing incidence. Health professionals play an important role in reducing disability and death from breast cancer, a major public health problem. The aim/objective of this study: is to determine the levels of knowledge and attitudes of nurses in two hospitals in Basra city, Iraq about breast cancer, risk factors, and symptoms of breast cancer. Method: The scientist in this cross-sectional descriptive study consists of 200 nurses working in Al-Sadr Teaching Hospital and Basra Teaching Hospital. The study sample consisted of 125 nurses who agreed to participate in the study. A personal information form and questionnaire prepared by the researchers were used to determine nurses' knowledge levels and attitudes about risk factors and symptoms for breast cancer and breast cancer in the data collection. RESULTS: It was determined that 82.4% of the research group were aged (20-41), 45.6% were married and 28.8% were university graduates. It was determined that 8% of nurses had a history of breast cancer, 13.6% had a family history of breast cancer, 31.2% did not know how to get BSE, and 60.8% did not have an annual breast examination. The averages of the respondents in the questionnaire were, respectively: (1.83 ± 0.36) (risk factors for breast cancer), (1.91 ± 0.43) (signs and symptoms of breast cancer), (2.32 ± 0.45) (methods of detection of breast cancer). Conclusion and Suggestions: The results of the study showed that the knowledge and attitudes of the nurses participating in the study about breast cancer and the methods of detecting it were low and that it is necessary to increase the nurses' awareness and attitudes about these topics.