What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: RCT. Population: Breast cancer awareness (n=370). Intervention: Breast Health Awareness program vs. Usual care. Primary outcome: Breast self-examination (BSE) practice at 12 months (p=0.0001).

August 8, 2016Open Access

Result of randomized control trial to increase breast health awareness among young females in Malaysia

Key Result

The Breast Health Awareness program significantly increased the rate of breast self-examination practice to 34.9% compared to 16.3% in the control group at 12 months.

Study Design

Type

RCT (n=370)

Blinding

Single-blind

Randomization

Random number table

Multicenter

Yes

Structured PICO

Does a Breast Health Awareness program based on the Health Belief Model improve breast self-examination practice and knowledge in female undergraduate students?

Population

370 female undergraduate students aged 20 years and older, excluding those in health faculties, followed for 12 months to assess the impact of a breast health awareness program.

Intervention

Breast Health Awareness program based on the Health Belief Model, consisting of a 1-hour lecture on breast health and a 1-hour training session on a breast silicon model to practice breast self-examination (BSE), plus an educational module booklet.

Comparator

No education during the study period (usual care/campaigns from health centres or Ministry of Health). Received the educational module and BSE training only after data collection was completed.

Outcome

Breast self-examination (BSE) practice at 6 and 12 months.patient reported

An educational program based on the Health Belief Model significantly improved breast cancer knowledge, beliefs, and breast self-examination practice among young female university students in Malaysia.

Main Result

Absolute Event Rate: 34.9% vs 16.3%

p-value: p=0.0001

Limitations

Results cannot be generalized to all young women in Malaysia as the study focused on young educated women in public universities.
All collected data were self-reported with no objective measures.
The control group may have been exposed to other information sources during the study period.
The absolute change in BSE practice was relatively small.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second principal cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide as well as in Malaysia. Breast self-examination (BSE) has a role in raising breast cancer awareness among women and educational programs play an important role in breast cancer preventive behavior. The aim of this study is to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of Breast Health Awareness program based on health belief model on knowledge of breast cancer and breast-selfexamination and BSE practice among female students in Malaysia. METHODS: A single-blind randomized controlled trial was carried out among 370 female undergraduate students from January 2011 to April 2012 in two selected public universities in Malaysia. Participants were randomized to either the intervention group or the control group. The educational program was delivered to the intervention group. The outcome measures were assessed at baseline, 6, and 12 months after implementing the health educational program. Chi-square, independent samples t-test and two-way repeated measures ANOVA (GLM) were conducted in the course of the data analyses. RESULTS: Mean scores of knowledge on breast cancer (p<0.003), knowledge on breast self examination (p<0.001), benefits of BSE (p<0.00), barrier of BSE (0.01) and confidence of BSE practice (p<0.00) in the intervention group had significant differences in comparison with those of the control group 6 and 12 months after the intervention. Also, among those who never practiced BSE at baseline, frequency of BSE practice increased 6 and 12 months after the intervention (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The Breast Health Awareness program based on health the belief model had a positive effect on knowledge of breast cancer and breast self-examination and practice of BSE among females in Malaysia. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The ANZCTR clinical trial registry ( ACTRN12616000831482 ), retrospectively registered on Jun 23, 2016 in ANZCTR.org.au.

Bookmark

View Full Paper