Abstract 5628
Background
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women. In Egypt, BC accounts for 38% of all types of cancer in females with the majority often present at advanced stages. This might be attributed to defective health education programs and poor awareness. The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of Egyptian nurses at Tanta university hospitals towards BC.
Methods
421 female nurses from Tanta university hospitals completed a questionnaire that administred through face-to-face interviews by medical students and interns. The questionnaire included five sections: sociodemographic data, knowledge about BC symptoms, risk factors, screenings methods and treatment of BC.
Results
Mean knowledge score was 18.75 ± 5.76 with 57.2% of participants knew the right answers of more than 50% of the questions. The least level of knowledge was in questions related to BC symptoms and risk factors with 60.3% and 52.2% , respectively, of participants had scores of < 50% of the total score. The knowledge for nurses aged 30-39 years-old, those from urban areas and those who have years of work experience ranged between 16 and 25 years had statistically lower levels of knowledge compared to other groups (p value, 0.035, 0.048, 0.005, respectively).
Conclusions
The level of BC knowledge among Tanta university hospitals nursing staff is fair. The Knowledge about BC symptoms and risk factors needs more attention from health care authorities to specifically design educational programs focusing on these areas.
Clinical trial identification
Legal entity responsible for the study
Tanta Faculty of Medicine, Egypt.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Editorial Acknowledgement
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.