Determinants of knowledge and practice of breast self-examination for detection of Breast Cancer among women in Kisumu County, Kenya
International Journal of Development Research
Determinants of knowledge and practice of breast self-examination for detection of Breast Cancer among women in Kisumu County, Kenya
Received 17th January, 2022; Received in revised form 26th January, 2022; Accepted 03rd February, 2022; Published online 28th March, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Macxine Achieng’ Oguta and Felix Humwa. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Background: Breast self-examination (BSE) is a simple, low-cost, and non-invasive method that women use to detect breast cancer at early stages. BSE is recommended for teenage and adult women as it helps to detect unusual swelling and lumps. The early intervention reduces the spread of cancer cells and improves health outcomes. This study assessed the determinants of knowledge and practice of BSE for early detection of breast cancer among women attending maternal health clinic at JaramogiOginga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH), Kisumu County in Kenya. Methods: A cross-sectional study targeting women of reproductive age seeking maternal health services at the JOOTRH facility was conducted. Systematic sampling was used to select the study participants while purposive sampling was used to select the nurses involved in key informant interviews. Semi-structured questionnaires and recording were used to collect data. Descriptive and logistic regression was conducted for the quantitative data. Qualitative data was transcribed, coded and analyzed thematically. Results: The study found that 39% of the participants had the correct knowledge and practice of BSE. An increase in education level was significantly associated with correct knowledge and practice of BSE. Single participants (aOR = 0.6, 95%CI [0.36 – 0.99]), participants who heard about BSE from media (aOR = 0.51, 95%CI [0.27-0.97]) and friends (aOR =0.25, 95%CI [0.09-0.69]) were less likely to report correct knowledge and practice of BSE. Conclusion: With lower rates of knowledge and practice of BSE there needs to be concerted effort to raise the knowledge and practice of BSE by the national and county governments, stakeholders and health practitioners. Breast self-Examination can hence be combined with Clinical Breast Examination and mammography to enhance early detection rates of breast cancer leading to better treatment outcomes.
