Women's health beliefs about breast cancer and breast self-examination.

To investigate the nature of women's health beliefs about breast cancer and breast self-examination (BSE) and the extent of BSE practice, a questionnaire was administered to 122 women. Ninety-seven percent (118) scored high in perceived benefits of BSE in reducing the threat of breast cancer and 87 percnet (106) scored high in perceived susceptibility to breast cancer. Forty percent (48) practiced BSE monthly, but over 20 percent of the sample had high beliefs and were nonpracticers. Thus, it cannot be concluded that beliefs cause behavior. Other factors such as embarrassment or religious upbringing influence health beliefs and practices, it was found. A majority of women who did practice BSE, furthermore, were unsure of their ability to detect abnormalities. A separate group of 20 women with a history of breast lumps or cancer surgery had higher susceptibility beliefs, a higher rate of practice, no embarrassment in examining themselves, and more confidence in ability to detect abnormalities than the remainder of the sample.