A RANDOMIZED TRIAL ON BREAST SELF-EXAMINATION IN FAENZA (NORTHERN-ITALY)

Aims and background: The aim of this randomized controlled trial was t o compare two methods for teaching breast self-examination: theoretica l and practical session versus mailed material, Methods: A random samp le of women aged 20-64 years was drawn from the demographic file of th e city of Faenza (Northern-Italy). Of 825 sampled eligible women, 168 declined participation, 657 were randomly assigned, after completing a pretest questionnaire aimed at evaluating practice and quality of bre ast self-examination, Individualised instruction was administered to t he treatment group invited to be taught breast self-examination in a m edical practice setting, The control group received mailed information about breast self-examination, One year later, 443 women completed th e posttest questionnaire, Results: As far as concerns the first outcom e of the trial (change in practice of breast-self examination) our stu dy showed, after adjusting for lost-to-follow-up, no difference betwee n the treatment and the control group. The analysis performed to evalu ate the second outcome (change in quality of breast self-examination p ractice) showed that women of the treatment group improved the quality of breast self-examination practice more than the control group (Wilc oxon test, z=2.4, P<0.01), The same results have been confirmed by mul tiple regression analyses taking into account all potential confounder s, No selection bias affected these results, Conclusion: Theoretical a nd practical sessions resulted in an improved quality of examination t echnique than did mailed material.