BREAST SELF-EXAMINATION - AN ANALYSIS OF SELF-REPORTED PRACTICE

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the performance of breast self-examination (BSE) and age, place of residen ce, ethnic background and religion, as well as whether a group willing to take part in an interview regarding BSE mirrored the whole populat ion. Six hundred and ninety-four (69.4%) women, aged 25-80, responded to the questionnaire, Of these, 69.6% examined their breasts. Whether the subjects lived in urban or rural areas was of no importance for pr actising BSE, nor was country of birth or number of years in Sweden. A larger proportion of women aged 45-80 practised BSE compared with wom en aged 25-44 (P<0.001), the former practising BSE once a month or mor e. Step-wise logistic regression analysis showed that, for the whole s ample as well as for the interview group, age was the only significant predictor of breast self-examination (P<0.001). There were no signifi cant differences between the whole sample and the interview group. The importance of younger women performing the examination is stressed. D ue to nurses being strategically located in a wide range of geographic al locations, allowing them to meet women in different settings, they are a good choice for motivating women to practise BSE.