attitude and practice of nurses in imparting knowledge on breast self examination to women in ajman, united arab emirates

background: breast cancer is a life threatening disease affecting women. awareness should be created among women for early detection of breast cancer. nurses should provide information on bse to women population as a part of their profession. the aim of this study was to assess the attitude and practice of nurses in imparting knowledge on bse to female patients. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted among 154 nurses from different hospitals of uae during the period june –november 2009. self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. data was analysed using pasw 17 version. results: age group of the participants ranged between 20 and 59 years with a mean age of 31 years and sd of 7.3 years. majority 90.3% have positive attitude in providing knowledge regarding risk factors of breast cancer and about the purpose of performing bse. eighty eight point three percent of the nurses were with a positive attitude toward providing information about bse to all females who come to the hospital irrespective of their demand. majority, 83.8% of the nurses reported, teaching method of bse. among the respondents 60.4% reported that they follow up their clients after imparting knowledge on bse. there was a statistically significant (p<0.001) positive correlation between attitude and practice. conclusion: the results suggest the need of proving continuing educational programs to change the attitude and behavior towards imparting knowledge of bse which in-turn will have a positive effect on their practice of teaching and motivating the women group to perform bse. key words: breast self examination; attitude, practice; united arab emirates references 1. annual report. 2006. preventive medicine sector, ministry of health, united arab emirates. 2007; 18-30. 2. cancer research campaign (crc). breast cancer uk. fact sheet 6.1. london. 1996. 3. yaren a, ozkilinc g, guler a, oztop i. awareness of breast and cervical cancer risk factors and screening behaviors among nurses in rural region of turkey. eur j cancer care. 2008; 17(3): 278-84. 4. wilson cm, tobin s, young rc. the exploding worldwide cancer burden: the impact of cancer on women. int j gynecol cancer. 2004; 14: 1-11. 5. ferlay j, pisani p, parkin dm. globocan 2000. iarc cancer base no. 5. lyon, international agency for research on cancer press. 2001. 6. jemal a, murray t, ward e, samuels a, tiwari rc, ghafoor a et al. cancer statistics, 2005. ca cancer j clin. 2005; 55: 10-30. 7. world health organization (who). fact sheet no. 297: available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/index.html. 2009. 8.  jemal a, siegel r, ward e, murray t, xu j, smigal c et al. cancer statistics, 2006. ca cancer j clin. 2006; 56: 106-30. 9. world health organization (who). eastern meditteranian regional office (emro). non communicable diseases. available at: http://www.emro.who.int/ncd/cancer_breast.htm. 10. world health organization (who). guidelines for the early detection and screening of breast cancer. emro technical publications series no 30. available at: http://www.emro.who.int/dsaf/dsa696.pdf. 2006. 11.  sternberger m. breast self examination: how nurses can influence performance. medsurg nursing. 1994; 3(5): 367-71. 12. bailey k. the nurse's role in promoting breast awareness. nursing standard. 2000; 14, 30: 34-6. 13. salem oa, hassan ma. breast self examination among female nurses. middle east journal of nursing 2007; 1(1). 14. ertem g, kocer a. breast self-examination among nurses and midwives in odemis health district in turkey. indian journal of cancer. 2009; 46(3): 208-13. 15. agboola aoj, agboola dam, oritogun ksb, musa aa.  knowledge, attitude and practice of breast self examination in female health work ers in olabisi onabanjo university teaching hospital. the international medical journal 2009; 8(1): 5-10. 16. chong pn, krishnan m, hong cy, swah tsl. knowledge and practice of breast cancer screening amongst public health nurses in singapore. singapore med j. 2002; 43(10): 509-16. 17. demirkiran f, balkaya na, memis s, turk g, ozvurmaz s, tuncyurek p. how do nurses and teachers perform breast self-examination: are they reliable sources of information? bmc public health.  2007; 7: 96. 18. frances ll, menon u, pett m, nail l, lee s, mooney k. breast cancer beliefs and mammography screening practices among chinese american immigrants. journal of obstetric, gynecologic, and neonatal nursing 2007; 36(3): 212-21. 19. budden l. registered nurses breast self-examination practice and teaching to female clients. j community health nurs. 1998; 15(2): 101-12. 20. turnbull bj, roberts kl. teaching and breast self examination: an insufficiency of instruction. 2004; 17(1-2): 167-76.