Efficacy of teaching breast self-examination using traditional method among female secondary school students in Oyo State, Nigeria: A pre-post quasi experimental study

Abstract

Background: Breast self-examination is a good approach to detecting breast cancer early and therefore needed to be propagated among the women folk through teaching to enhance their knowledge and practicing skill since breast cancer had become a higher killer among the other cancers. Therefore, since all women are vulnerable to this menace, teaching of breast self-examination (BSE) through traditional method among the younger females is important to boost their knowledge and practice of breast self-examination in readiness to early detection of breast cancer. Hence, the objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of traditional method of teaching breast self-examination among female secondary school students in Oyo State. Materials and Methods: This study utilized a quasi-experimental design, conducted among the female students of senior secondary class of Anglican Grammar School, Ogbomoso North Local Government area and Ladigbolu Grammar School in Oyo East, all in Oyo State. The sample size was determined using Cochran formular to be one hundred and seventy-four (174) but one hundred and sixty-one (161) completed both the pre and post intervention test and demonstration of BSE. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the cognitive section which has to do with the knowledge of BSE while checklist was used for the psychomotor aspect where practice of BSE was graded per student under poor, average, good and excellent. Results: The findings of this study revealed that larger percentage of the female secondary school students has poor pre-intervention knowledge and practice of BSE but a significant improvement at the post-intervention test and practice using traditional method. Majority (87.6%) of the participants was between age 14-17years and about 68.94% reached menarche at age 10-13years. Almost all (90.7%) had poor pre-intervention knowledge while 65.8% at post intervention had knowledge above average. Also, 85.7% at pre-intervention had poor practice of BSE while 54.7% had practice of BSE above average at post-intervention. Conclusion/Recommendation: Educational interventions through traditional method vis a vis lecture method of teaching brought positive improvement in knowledge and practice of BSE among the female secondary school girls. Therefore, senior secondary school students should be exposed to breast self-examination through traditional method of teaching and probably add it to their curriculum to spread the knowledge and the practice and thereby curb the prevalence of breast cancer in the nearest future.