EFFECT OF A BREAST CANCER HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAM ON THE AWARENESS AND PRACTICE OF JEDDAH FEMALE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

OBJECTIVE: To identify the effect of a school health education program on the knowledge of secondary school girls in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, of breast cancer and breast self-examination (BSE) and their practice of BSE. METHODOLOGY: A pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire was administered to secondary students before the commencement of the health education to assess their knowledge on breast cancer and their practice of BSE. The same questionnaire was handed 6 months later to a smaller group of these students as a post-test. As the post-test group was smaller than the pre-test group, an equal sample size from the pre-test group was drawn for comparison. Random sampling and further analysis was done using the SPSS program, and for the comparison of the two groups, the student t-test and chi square were used. RESULTS: The post-test was answered by 1372 students. The sampled re-test group comprised 1400 students (N= 7663) forming a sample of 18.3%. The ages for both groups ranged between 16-25 years (mean = 18.4; SD=1.9). Saudi nationals formed 73.4% of both groups and the proportion of married students was 8.4%. Those who reported that they had relatives with breast mass were 11.2%. The mean knowledge indexes on breast cancer reached 19.7 for the pre-test group and 43.0 for the post-group (t=31.2; p<0.0001). Correct answers for BSE rose significantly among the post-test group. A proportion of 27.2% students from the post-group reported that they had been motivated to practice BSE at least 3 times during the last 6 month. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: The outcome of the school health education program on breast cancer had been successful in raising the awareness of secondary school girls and in helping them to practice BSE more. Hence, it is recommended that the programme be implemented in all female secondary schools and colleges.