Two hundred and three patients participated in a study designed to evaluate a structured learning package for teaching competent breast self-examination (BSE) at a Screening Center. The package consisted of modeling, practice without feedback on a breast model, and limited practice and feedback on the patients' own breasts. Performance proficiency was evaluated by an observer as the number of BSE's steps correctly practiced during pre and post-training evaluations. A questionnaire to gather information about patients history, knowledge, and attitudes toward BSE and breast cancer was also used. Results show that more than 80% of the patients who could improve did so in most steps of both components, visual inspection and palpation. In addition, only 31% of the patients performed a perfect and complete BSE immediately after the teaching session. The two steps patients failed the most were checking the axillary-tail and covering the complete breast. A corrective procedure to improve the teaching package is discussed.

The problem of the study was to determine the relationship of breast cancer prevention attitudes, level of body satisfaction, family history of breast cancer, and prior education about breast self-examination (BSE) to the performance of BSE by undergraduate college females. The participants in the study were 356 female college students enrolled in HSC 160, Fundamentals of Human Health, at Ball State University during the spring semester of 2001. Using a cross-sectional data collection process, participants completed a survey instrument measuring the variables of the study.The data were analyzed using both univariate and bivariate statistics. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used to determine 1) the relationship between the level of performance of BSE among college females and their breast cancer prevention attitudes, 2) the relationship between college females' body dissatisfaction and their level of performance of BSE, 3) the association between the level of performance of BSE and family history of breast cancer, and 4) the association between the performance of BSE and prior education concerning BSE.The results indicated that there was a significant association between the performance of BSE and having prior knowledge concerning BSE, and with having a positive or negative breast cancer prevention attitude. No significant associations were found between the performance of BSE and having a family history of medical problems concerning the breasts, or with the subject's level of body dissatisfaction. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of education on the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of breast self-examination (BSE) among adolescent females. The tool used to measure the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of BSE was based on the Health Belief Model. The design was a two group pretest, post-test, quasi-experimental design. Using 2X2 repeated measures revealed there was no significant difference between the control and experimental groups in attitudes and beliefs. However, there was a significant increase in the knowledge level of BSE for the group who received BSE instruction when compared to the group who did not receive BSE instruction. The researcher recommended that research be continued using a larger, heterogeneous sample. / School of Nursing

The focus of the research study was breast selfexamination. A randomized sample of 400 women living in Fort Wayne, Indiana and employed by a large corporation were surveyed to determine the relationship between frequency of breast self-examination and Health Belief Model variables. Susceptibility, seriousness, benefits, barriers and health motivation were measured by scales developed by Champion (1984). The instrument had been tested for reliability and validity.The variable of exercise was examined to determine if a relationship existed between exercise and frequency of breast self-examination. Individual items measured the frequency of breast self-examination and the methods of instruction.Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the variables of barriers and seriousness accounted for 27% of the variance for prediction of breast selfexamination. An insignificant Chi Square was obtained for the relationship between exercise and breast selfexamination. No demographic variables evidenced significance with breast self-examination.The findings of the study evidenced a relationship between the Health Belief Model and breast self-examination, thus supporting the theoretical framework of the study. / School of Nursing

A reduction in breast cancer mortality could be achieved by the regular practice of Breast Self-Examination (BSE), an early detection technique. · Based on interventions which have been successful in increasing compliance to other health-related behaviors, this study attempted to evaluate the efficacy of prompts on the monthly practice of BSE. Specifically, after exposure to a BSE teaching workshop, participants (N = 83), who were faculty and staff members at a state university, were assigned to one of three experimental conditions: telephoned prompts, mailed prompts, and no prompts. Compliance was measured during a 7 month period by means of an indirect behavioral measure. Results indicated that although experimental conditions did not differ with respect to mean frequency of BSE, they did differ in terms of proportion of noncompliers and high compliers. The prompt conditions contained a smaller proportion of noncompliers and a greater proportion of high compliers than the control group. In addition, the phoned prompts were more effective than the mailed prompts in increasing compliance. The proportion of compliance in all conditions decreased over time; compliance during the first half of the study accurately predicted compliance during the second half. The variables that accurately discriminated noncompliers from high compliers for all months of the study were educational level and perceived efficacy of BSE. The results are discussed in terms of cost-effectiveness and generalizability. Specific recommendations for future studies are presented. / Ph. D.

A quasi-experimental design was used in this study to determine if guided practice would result in higher breast cancer knowledge scores, higher breast self-examination (BSE) knowledge scores and higher intent to practice scores then modeling alone or teaching without modeling or guided practice. Fifty-eight women participated in the study. There were 19 women in the guided practice group, 22 in the modeling group and 17 in the control group. A pre-test, post-test format was used. ANCOVA was used to statistically control for the variance in pre-test scores. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic data. The results showed that all methods of teaching resulted in higher breast cancer and BSE knowledge scores and in higher intent to practice scores. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups. Nursing research need to continue in this area to find the most effective method of teaching women breast self-examination.

Diagnoses using images made with non-ionizing ultrasound are based on qualitive criteria and are not more accurate than those made with mammography. Information about tissue state is lost in the processing required to produce ultrasound images, and textural information may not be perceptible to a human observer. This study uses statistical pattern recognition to classify ultrasound A-scans, before any processing other than amplification occurs. A U. I. Octoson was used to collect data from normal, benign, and malignant, in vivo breast tissues. Features based on textural or frequency content of received sound were computed from digitized A-scans. Most textural features have been used previously in image processing, while frequency features assumed differences in frequency-dependent attenuation. Data were collected at the University of Arizona from 17 malignant masses, 8 benign masses, and 7 normal tissues. Univariate and multivariate statistical tests were used to find combinations of features which discriminated best between the classes of tissue. Equal a priori probabilities were used in a Bayesian classifier to classify malignant vs. nonmalignant. Specificity of 76% (13 of 17 malignant masses correct) was found with a sensitivity of 80% (12 of 15 masses correct). A linear combination of one frequency feature and three textural features was used. For malignant vs. benign, sensitivity of 88% (15 of 17 masses) and specificity of 75% (6 of 8 masses) were found. Features used were the same as for classification of malignant vs. nonmalignant, except for modification of one textural feature. The inability to visually detect and gather data from some palpable masses means that further study is needed to determine the effectiveness of applying the method to all breast masses. A set of A-scans from Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia was gathered using similar procedures, and analysed with the following results: 18 of 21 (86%) malignant masses, and 45 of 66 (68%) nonmalignant masses were classified correctly, using a linear combination of one textural feature and five frequency features. Confidence limits on the results show that the majority of masses can be classified correctly with this procedure, but success rates are not high enough for breast cancer screening.

Five Tucson, Arizona, mothers of adolescent daughters participated in exploratory, descriptive nursing research employing ethnographic interviews during July, 1987, to determine what cultural knowledge informs the behaviors of mothers as they enculturate their daughters regarding Breast Self-Examination (BSE). Five major taxonomies of cultural knowledge emerged: "Caring For Yourself Means Surviving As A Species"; "Being Unsure, Thinking 'Why Bother?'   "; "It Can't Happen To Me"; "If I Don't Know About It, It Isn't There"; and "It's Unnatural To Touch Yourself." Six pairs of conflicting cultural themes both presented BSE as a self-care means to promote human-species survival and simultaneously accounted for women's BSE non-compliance via their uncertainty over BSE techniques, sense of invulnerability to cancer, fear of uncovering disease, and unease with their own bodies. Nursing intervention should reinforce positive cultural knowledge about the female breasts which could be communicated by mothers to their daughters along with procedural knowledge in promoting BSE practice.