Breast and cervical cancer knowledge and awareness among university students.

BACKGROUND

Breast and cervical cancers are the most common types of cancer in women worldwide. Previous studies in Asia have shown that related knowledge and awareness is low among female university students. The goal of this study was to assess breast and cervical cancer knowledge, practices, and awareness among female university students in Samsun,Turkey.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

This research was a cross-sectional survey of female university students using a self-administered. questionnaire to investigate participant awareness and knowledge of breast and cervical cancer. A total of 301 female university students participated. Descriptive statistics and chi square tests were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants in this study was 22.0 ± 5.91 years. Regarding family history, 89.7 % of the students had no known familial history of breast cancer. Students (65.4%) had knowledge about breast self examination and 52.2 % of them had performed breast self examinationm while 55.1% of them had knowledge about prevention of cervical cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the results are preliminary, the study points to an insufficient knowledge of university students in Samsun about breast and cervical cancer.