Practice of breast self-examination and associated factors among female students of College of Health Technology, Aba, Abia State, Nigeria

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is a type of malignant tumor that starts in the cells of the breast and commonly occurs in women, particularly in low and middle-income countries. It has been described as the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and the leading cause of cancer death globally. It demands immediate action to prevent and detect BC early through the different screening methods. To facilitate early detection of BC, practice on the screening methods is essential.

Objective: To assess practice of breast self-examination and associated factors among female students of college of Health Technology, Aba, Abia State, Nigeria.

Materials and methods: A descriptive-cross sectional study was conducted among female students of college of health technology Aba. Abia state. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from the female students which were entered into SPSS version 26 for analysis. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to identify variables having a significant association with students’ knowledge.

Results: The mean age of the respondents is 23±3.461, 398 (93.3%) students participated in the study with a non-responsive rate of 6.7%. Majority of the study participants 279 (70.1%) were in the 18-23 year-age group and 350 (87.9%) were single. The dominant tribe and religion were Igbo 380 (95.5%) and Christianity 387 (97.2%) respectively, 44 (11.1%) of them have children. One hundred and thirty-five (33.9%) had poor practice. Students’ aged ≤ 23 years (AOR; 5.210 p = 0.002), students’ husband educational level (AOR: 4.223, P=0.03), family history of breast cancer (AOR: 5.309, P=0.001) were statistically associated with students’ practice of BSE.

Conclusion: Respondents had low level of practice of Breast self-examination. Husband’s educational level, marital status, family history of breast cancer age and were predators to knowledge of BSE.