ABSTRACT

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As future healthcare professionals, it is important that the baccalaureate nursing students know Breast Self- Examination (BSE) as they will likely be the ones who will teach and the ones clients go to when they detect unusuality. This descriptive study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices in BSE of female baccalaureate nursing students in a private higher education institution in Davao City. A total of 286 participants were chosen using stratified random sampling. The study used an adapted questionnaire from a study by Ahmed et al. (2018). Results showed that the respondents were aged 18 to 33 years old, wherein 1 was divorced/separated, 1 married, 282 were single and 2 widows. Out of all respondents, 102 were living in a rural community while 184 were in urban areas. 27 of the total respondents have 1 member of the family that performs BSE, 36 has 2 family members, those with 3 and with 4 members both have 15, 2 has 5 members, and 191 answered none. The results also showed that 142 of the respondents have their friends and family as one of their sources of information regarding BSE, 226 have lectures as one of their sources, 175 used books, 100 answered television and 225 of them included the internet. Additionally, it was found that the respondents had moderate knowledge about BSE (75.52%), showed a high positive attitude on BSE (49.65%) and majority have performed BSE before (66.08%). However, despite the high level of positive attitude, it was found that the level of knowledge of the respondents is moderate, and the profile of their practice is poor. An intervention plan with a theme of “Early Detection for Your Protection” was offered for consideration.

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