Biomedicine

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) stands as the leading cancer diagnosis for women globally. Despite its importance as an early detection tool, breast self-examination (BSE) remains underutilized, even among medical students. Aim: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of breast self-examination among female medical students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 272 female medical students at Panimalar Medical College, Chennai, using a pre-validated 35-item questionnaire to evaluate their KAP toward BSE. A cut-off of 70% of the total possible score for each domain was used to categorize KAP levels as “good” or “poor”. Results: Overall, 91.2%, 52.2%, and 34.9% of respondents had good knowledge, attitude, and practice scores on BSE, respectively. Significant differences in the proportion of good scores were observed across different academic years only for attitudes and practices related to BSE. The results indicated a significant positive correlation among the knowledge and attitude scores (r = 0.21, p ≤ .001), knowledge and practice scores (r = 0.24, p ≤ .001), as well as the attitude and practice scores (r = 0.41, p ≤ .001). Conclusion: The study findings indicate a gap between the theoretical knowledge and the practical application of BSE among female medical students. To address this, more effective training and educational programs are necessary to improve medical students' attitudes and practical proficiency with breast self-examination.