Knowledge, practice and attitude of breast self, clinical breast and mammographic examinations amongst medical doctors in Bayelsa State
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Abstract
Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women both in the developed and less developed world. Regular self, clinical and mammographic examination of the breast according to internationally acceptable guidelines can result in early detection of cancer in asymptomatic women thereby reducing morbidity and mortality related to the disease.
Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, practice and attitude of breast examinations and breast cancer amongst medical doctors in Bayelsa State to achieve the desired reduction in mortality.
Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of Doctors in Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa and Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri, Bayelsa State carried out between September 1, and October 1, 2015. A structured self-administered questionnaire was designed and used to collect information from 216 medical doctors. The data were processed using SPSS Windows version 20. Summary statistics, sample frequencies and crossed tabulations were then computed.
Results: Of the 176 respondents, none had a low level of knowledge; 58 (33.0%) showed moderate level of knowledge, whereas 118 (67.0%) showed a high level of knowledge. Only 55.7% of doctors had performed breast self-examination (BSE), 16.5% clinical breast examination (CBE) and 4% mammography. However, when it was coned-down to only female doctors, it was found that whereas 54 (85.7%) of our female respondents practiced BSE, only 15 (23.8%) had CBE, and only 2 (3.2%) had done screening mammography. Majority (92.6%) believed that breast cancer can be cured if detected early, with 100% opted to seeing a doctor.
Conclusion: Convincing majority of medical doctors in our study had excellent knowledge about BSE, CBE and mammography as screening modalities, respectively, for breast cancer. Attitude towards breast cancer treatment was also positive. However, their practice levels were quite poor.
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