The effect of breast cancer health education on the knowledge, attitudes, and practice: a community health center catchment area.

Studies indicate that women in China are not frequently carrying out breast cancer prevention practices. This is assumed to be due to lack of knowledge and/or lack of personalized instruction. This study was to explore the effect of breast cancer health education on women's knowledge and attitudes on breast cancer and breast self-examination, behavior related to breast self-examination among women living in the catchment area of a community health center. A pretest and posttest assessment of a 1-h health education session was conducted with 38 participants. A telephone reminder and questionnaires were administered at 1 and 3 months after the education. Three instruments were administered at each contact to assess the knowledge and attitudes on breast cancer and behavior related to breast self-examination and accuracy of breast self-examination before education, 1- and 3-month follow-ups after education. The findings showed the incidence of self-examination, and scores on the accuracy of breast self-examination practice were significantly increased immediately following the intervention and at 1- and 3-month follow-ups. Furthermore, the scores of the health belief regarding perceived benefits, perceived competency, and perceived seriousness significantly improved. The current findings imply community-based intervention could be used to teach women about the general knowledge of breast cancer and how to perform breast self-examination correctly, especially for women who are lack of such information.