Evaluation of knowledge and behaviors of nurses working at Elazig province Firat University Hospital on breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Early diagnosis of the breast cancer makes the treatment easier and prolongs the life of the patient. In this study, it was aimed to assess the behaviours and the knowledge of the nurses working at Elazıg province Fırat University Medical Faculty Hospital about the breast cancer and early diagnosis methods. This descriptive and cross-sectional type study covered 535 nurses working at Elazıg province Fırat University Medical Faculty Hospital, 495 of them participated the study (participation rate was 92.5%). Data were collected with a survey containing questions to assess the knowledge and behaviours of the participants about the breast cancer, their socio-demographic characteristics, their departments and terms of service. The data were evaluated by means, percentages and chi-square test. The average age of the participant nurses was 29.46±7.27 years, 88.7% of them were women, 46.1% of them graduated from medical vocational high school, 46.7% of them were single, 37.6% of them had 10 year or longer term of service, 57.0% of them study internal clinics. 65.6% of the participants made breast self-examination (BSE) and 15.9% of them repeated this method regularly. However, 36.4% of the participants who did not practice BSE did not do this method because of 'forgetfulness' at most. 52.2% of the nurses 'exactly' knew proper BSE technique, 35.5% knew it ' insufficiently' and 12.3% of them did not know it. 15.0% of the participants had clinical breast examination (CBE) by a physician, and the most common reason of this examination was breast cancer prevention/early diagnosis with the rate of 86.4%. 7.5% of the participants used mammography method and, the most common reason of this method was breast cancer prevention/early diagnosis with rate of 92.5%. 5.9% of the participants practiced all of this three early diagnosis methods (BSE, CBE and mammography). 33.0% did not practice any method. In the study, there was a significant effect of nurses' increasing ages, breast diseases history and in-service trainings on practicing screening methods (BSE, CBE and mammography) (p<0.05). There was not any relation between the clinics the nurses work at and practicing screening methods (BSE, CBE and mammography) (p>0.05). As a result, it was found that the participants, though they were healthcare staff, did not have sufficient knowledge about BSE and had a low rate of practicing early diagnosis methods. Knowledge and behaviours of the nurses about the breast cancer and early diagnosis methods must be supported with education, and interventions must be carried out to assess and eliminate the factors preventing practicing preventive health care behaviours.