论文部分内容阅读
Background The incidence of breast cancer in Hong rnKong is increasing and breast serf-examination (BSE)rnas a screening tool is becoming mere popular,rnespecially among first-dsgree relatives (FDR) of breast rncancer victims. BSE may be mere applicable to rnChinese women as their breast size is smaller. This rnstudy explores the BSE practice in this group of rnwomen.rnMethods A cross sectional study was conducted by rnsending questionnaires to 330 FDR of breast cancer rnpatients treated in the Department of Surgeory,rnUniveisity of Hong Kong. BSE behavior was studied rnwith respect to its frequency,awareness,rncompleteness and confidence of practice.rnResults 110 subjects reted the questionnaires with rna response rate of 33%.The mean age of the rnrespondent was 37 years. Only 57 women (52%)rnwere practicers. The practicers have a stronger BSE rnawareness (p＜0.01) and a lower mean score on rnthought barriers (P=0.002) than the non-practicers.rn40% of the practicers gain their BSE knowledge rnthrough clinicians and their mean period of practica was rn3.2 yeara. 68% of the practicers performed BSE rncompletely.The overall confidence rate was 35%, but rnthe rate was 43% among those who performled rncomplete BSE.Thirteen factors possibly related to the rncompleteness and rate of confidence of BSF rnexamination were studied.The only factor that rnsignificantly detined completenass was the time rnspent for each examination (P=0.002).The rncomplete practicers required a longer time than the rnincomplete practicers(6.60 and 2.96 min,rnrespectively).Women with a stronger BSE intention rn(P=0.001)and a lower mean score on thought rnbarrers(P=0.001)performed the examination rnconfidently.rnConclusions Slightly over half of the FDR practice rnBSE.The majority perform a complete BSE but they rnare not confident in finding abnormalities. Women rnspending more time on BSE are associated with a rnhigher rate of completeness. However,only those with rna stronger DSE: intention and lesser thought barriers are rnmore confident in their practice.