Study to Assess the Knowledge and Practice of Breast Self-examination among Adolescent Girls Studying in Akkamahadevi Women’s Arts, Sciences and Commerce Colleges, Bagalkot

Background: Breast diseases are very common and can be found in most women. Among the Breast diseases, majority of the lesions are benign. This occurs due to various reasons such as infection, trauma, fibro adenoma, cyst of the breast. The incidence of benign breast lesions begins to rise during the 2nd decade life and peak in 4th and 5th decades, as opposed to malignant diseases, for which the incidence continues to increase after menopause, although at less rapid pace. Even so, a woman who detect a breast lump should have it evaluated as soon as possible. Methods: The dates of the descriptive study were July 21, 2024, to Aug 22, 2024. Using the stratified random sample procedure, 60 study participants were chosen. The research was carried out in Akkamahadevi women’s arts, science and commerce college, Bagalkot. The study involving 60 adolescent girls. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire and variables including socio demographic characteristics, Breast cancer knowledge, Breast self-examination knowledge and practice. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and present the data and chi square test of significance was used to determine association between socio demographic variable and practice of breast self-examination.