• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1193-1196
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• 2012

Breast and cervical cancer are the most common causes of cancer mortality among women worldwide, but they are largely preventable. There are limited data on knowledge and practices on screening methods of breast and cervical cancers among female health care workers in Sri Lanka, in spite of having an organized screening programme islandwide. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 219 female health care workers including public health midwives (68.9%) selected from 6 districts in Sri Lanka using convenient sampling methods. A self-administered questionnaire was used as a pre-test in a capacity building training programme to collect the data. The mean (SD) duration of work experience of the respondents was 12 years and 52.5% were aged over 35 years. Most (76.7%) were married, and afamily history of cancer was reported by 24.2%. Over 98% knew about self breast examination. Even though 84.1% practiced it, only 47.9% practiced it on a monthly basis. Clinical breast examination and mammography were known by 94.1% and 64.3% respectively. Only 19.2% had undergone a clinical braest examination within one year and 3.6% had ever undergone a mamography. Only 76.3% knew that a Pap smear detects precancerous stage of cervical cancer. Among 169 married workers, 73.4% had never had a Pap smear and only 17.2% had got it done within the preceding 5 years. Among the reasons for not doing a pap smear within 5 years, 47.0% belived it as not nescessary, 17.3% due to fear/dislike, 23.2% as not having symptoms, 3% had not known about it and 3% not known about availability of services. The study findings suggest that the knowledge and practices on breast and cervical cancer screening methods among female health care workers need to be improved. Considering the role that health care workers play in communicating health behaviors to the general public, strengthening health education interventions for this group of females is essential.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.327-336
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• 2004

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the age-related differences in risk perception of breast cancer and the age-related differences in predictors of risk perception. Method: The subjects were 553 women aged from 15 to 64 who lived in Seoul, Kwang-Ju, Jeon-nam province. Data was collected by self-reported questionnaire surveys using convenience sampling. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, F-test with Scheffe test, and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS-Win 10.0 version. Result: Risk perception of breast cancer was different by age group. Especially, risk perception in teenagers and the 50~64 years group was lower than the other groups. Additionally, general fear of breast cancer, information seeking style, experience, and knowledge were different between the age groups. The results of multiple regression analyses predicting risk perception indicated the following significant predictors: general fear and knowledge in all the subjects, general fear and experience in the 20~29 years group, and general fear in the other age groups. Conclusion: These results suggested that the construction of educational messages for breast cancer prevention and early detection should be designed differently for each age group.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3981-3990
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in Jordan. Current efforts are focused on annual campaigns aimed at increasing awareness about breast cancer and encouraging women to conduct mammogram screening. In the absence of regular systematic screening for breast cancer in Jordan, there is a need to evaluate current mammography screening uptake and its predictors, assess women's knowledge and attitudes towards breast cancer and screening mammograms and to identify barriers to this preventive service. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in six governorates in Jordan through face-to-face interviews on a random sample of women aged 40 to 69 years. Results: A total of 507 participants with mean age of $46.8{\pm}7.8$ years were interviewed. There was low participation rate in early detection of breast cancer practices. Breast self-examination, doctor examination and periodic mammography screening were reported by 34.9%, 16.8% and 8.6% of study participants, respectively. Additionally 3.8% underwent breast cancer screening at least once but not periodically, while 87.6% had never undergone mammography screening. Reported reasons for conducting the screening were: perceived benefit (50%); family history of breast cancer (23.1%); perceived severity (21.2%); and advice from friend or family member (5.8%). City residents have shown higher probability of undergoing mammogram than those who live in towns or villages. Results revealed negative perceptions and limited knowledge of study participants on breast cancer and breast cancer screening. The most commonly reported barriers for women who never underwent screening were: fear of results (63.8%); no support from surrounding environment (59.7); cost of the test (53.4%); and religious belief, i.e. Qadaa Wa Qadar (51.1%). Conclusions: In the absence of regular systematic screening for breast cancer in Jordan, the uptake of this preventive service is very low. It is essential for the country of Jordan to work on applying regular systematic mammography screening for breast cancer. Additionally, there is a need for improvement in the current health promotion programmes targeting breast cancer screening. Other areas that could be targeted in future initiatives in this field include access to screening in rural areas and removal of current barriers.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.365-378
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• 2019

Purpose: The awareness of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) and BRCA testing is increasing in Korea. Compared to the sizable research on HBOC knowledge among breast cancer women, studies in the ovarian cancer population are limited. This paper aimed to investigate the level of knowledge of hereditary ovarian cancer and anxiety in women diagnosed with serous ovarian cancer in Korea and determine differences in the knowledge and anxiety according to whether genetic testing was undertaken and whether BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations were present. Methods: Using a descriptive research design, a cross-sectional survey was conducted on 100 women diagnosed with serous ovarian cancer at N hospital in Gyeonggi-do, Korea, from July to November 2018. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation coefficient using the SPSS 21.0 program. Results: The hereditary ovarian cancer-related knowledge score was mid-level (mean score 8.90±3.29 out of a total of 17), as was the state anxiety level was mid-level (mean score 47.96±3.26 out of possible score range of 20-80). Genetic knowledge of hereditary ovarian cancer was associated with age, education, occupation, genetic counseling, and BRCA mutations. There were no statistically significant factors related to anxiety and there were no statistically significant correlations between knowledge level and anxiety. Conclusion: More comprehensive education on gene-related cancer is needed for ovarian cancer patients, especially for items with low knowledge scores. A genetic counseling protocol should be developed to allow more patients to alleviate their anxiety through genetic counseling.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.8637-8640
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice of Breast Self-Examination (BSE) among female university students from 24 low, middle income and emerging economy countries. Using anonymous questionnaires, data were collected from 10,810 female undergraduate university students aged 16-30 (mean age 20.7, SD=2.9) from 25 universities in 24 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Overall, 50.4% of the female students indicated that they knew how to conduct BSE. Among all women, 59.3% had never practiced BSE in the past 12 months, 21.3% 1-2 times, 10.3% 3-10 times, and 9.1% monthly. The proportion of monthly BSE was above 20% in Nigeria and Laos and below 2% in Bangladesh, India, Singapore, Russia, and South Africa. Logistic regression found that BSE importance or positive attitude was highly associated with BSE practice. BSE practices were found to be inadequate and efforts should be made to develop programmes that can increase knowledge related to breast cancer as well as the practice of breast self-examination.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.678-695
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• 1994

The purpose of this study was to investigate knowledge, attitudes and practices of women toward breast self-examination and to identify factors that may influence compliance with breast examination. The subjects for this study were 282 women in three hospitals located in In-Chun. Data were collected during the period from October 15 to 30, 1993 by means of a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the SAS program and include descriptive statistics, 1-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression. The results of study are as follows : 1. The mean knowledge score for the total sample was 13.58. Factors affecting the women's knowledge of breast cancer and BSE were : age, level of education, experience with breast cancer patients, experience in learning BSE, information about BSE, self-practice of BSE, level of intention to perform BSE, and participation in a BSE class. 2. Elements related to attitude included : (a) perceived feeling of susceptibility to breast cancer, and (b) belief about the effectiveness of BSE. The mean perceived susceptibility score was 1.62 and the mean effectiveness score was 4.22. Factors affecting the women's perceived susceptibility to breast cancer were exercise for health, level of intention to perform BSE , intention to recommend to others and self-practice of BSE. The relation between the womens' belief about effectiveness of BSE and level of intention to perform BSE and intention to recommend to others were statistically significant. 3. The mean self-practice score for the total sample was 4.01. Factors affecting the women's practice were experience with breast cancer patients, information about BSE, experience in learning BSE, enlisting the help of significant peers, and level of intention to perform BSE. Results indicated 35.8% of the total sample practiced BSE. The most frequent reason women gave for not performing BSE was “Didn’t knew about BSE technique”, “Didn’t think do it”. 4. No relation was found between knowledge and attitudes and practices. 5. When all the variables were examined for their contribution to the variance in the practice of BSE, it was found that confidence in ability to detect a mass by BSE, knowledge about breast cancer and BSE, and experience with breast cancer patients were significant variables and explained 35.8% of the variance. From the results of this study it can be said that women need to be taught proper BSE technique so they can become more proficient in detecting breast abnormalities.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.145-152
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• 2015

Barriers to health seeking constitute a challenging issue in the treatment of breast cancer. The current meta-synthesis aimed to explore common barriers to health seeking among Malaysian breast cancer patients. From the systematic search, nine studies were found meeting the inclusion criteria. Data extraction revealed that health behavior towards breast cancer among Malaysia women was influenced by knowledge, psychological, sociocultural and medical system factors. In terms of knowledge, most of the Malaysian patients were observed to have cursory information and the reliance on the information provided by media was limiting. Among psychological factors, stress and sense of denial were some of the common factors leading to delay in treatment seeking. Family member's advice, cultural beliefs towards traditional care were some of the common sociocultural factors hindering immediate access to advanced medical diagnosis and care. Lastly, the delay in referral was one of the most common health system-related problems highlighted in most of the studies. In conclusion, there is an immediate need to improve the knowledge and understanding of Malaysian women towards breast cancer. Mass media should liaise with the cancer specialists to disseminate accurate and up-to-date information for the readers and audience, helping in modification of cultural beliefs that hinder timing health seeking. However, such intervention will not improve or rectify the health system related barriers to treatment seeking. Therefore, there is an immediate need for resource adjustment and training programs among health professional to improve their competency and professionalism required to develop an efficient health system.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 1976

This study was carried out to collect basic information on the knowledge and attributes and behavior related to the prevention of breast cancer of a Sample Seoul women. Similar studies had dealt with samples of tumor clinic patients and their families and with non-professional hospital welters. The sample for this study was drawn by women out patients from eight centrally located general hospitals, in Seoul where the number of annual out patients exceeded 100,000, and the number of beds exceeded 100. The interview schedule consisted 33 questions related to knowledge, attitude, and behavior related to prevention of breast cancer. It was modified from the previous on cancer studies. The investigator interviewed 665 women over 20 years of age, from those who visited these eight hospitals from 24, June to 20, August 1975. More than half of the respondents were housewives and primarily in the 20 to 29 ages group. They had a mean level of 3.562 pregnancies and 1,986 children. 33.4% were high-school graduates, 32.2% had a monthly family income in the 50,000 to 100,000 won range. 75% of the respondents had heard about breast cancer through mass media or personal media, but the majority of respondents did not have an accurate understanding of it. This varied according to educational, economical income and occupations. The primary reason given for maintaining distance from a patient with breast cancer was not because of cancer but simply because person was a patient. 74.7% of the respondents thought that early cancer of the breast could be cured with early treatment. Only 5.3% of the respondents had ever had a physical examination and only 6.3% practised self examination of the breast.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4829-4834
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• 2013

Background: Breast self examination (BSE), performed regularly every month, is one of the most important methods in the early diagnosis of breast cancer. This study was performed with the aim of establishing the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of women working in government hospitals within the province of Samsun regarding BSE. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between January-March 2012, on a total of 550 women (500 health personnel, and 50 general administration services (GAS) workers) from 7 government hospitals and the Cancer Early Diagnosis, Screening, and Education Centre (CEDSEC). Percentages were used for the descriptive statistics, and the chi-square test for the evaluation of statistical importance. Values of p<0.05 were accepted as significant. Results: The mean age of the participants was $36.2{\pm}15.3$, and 42.5% were in the 30-39 year old age group, 78.0% being married. Seventy-eight point four percent (78.4%) of the health personnel and 76.0% of the GAS workers performed BSE. However, the rates of performing BSE regularly every month were only 25.6% and 5.0%. Within the health personnel, 1.4% stated that they did not perform BSE because they found it unnecessary as they had no history of breast cancer in their family, 3.6% did not do so due to fear and stress, 13.2% because they forgot, and 14.6% because they had no complaints. Some 22.2% of the health personnel and 52.0% of the GAS workers had undergone mammographic evaluation, the difference being significant (p<0.05), 84.1% of the health personnel and 61.9% of the GAS workers knowing symptoms of breast cancer. Conclusions: Women in society should be brought to a certain level of awareness and knowledge regarding BSE. It is of the utmost importance that health personnel, who carry the responsibility for counseling and enlightening society, should interiorize the necessary knowledge, attitudes and behavior.

• Laboraroty Animal Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.160-165
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• 2018

Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death among woman, worldwide, despite advances in identifying novel targeted therapies and the development of treating strategies. Classification of clinical subtypes (ER+, PR+, HER2+, and TNBC (Triple-negative)) increases the complexity of breast cancers, which thus necessitates further investigation. Mouse models used in breast cancer research provide an essential approach to examine the mechanisms and genetic pathway in cancer progression and metastasis and to develop and evaluate clinical therapeutics. In this review, we summarize tumor transplantation models and genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of breast cancer and their applications in the field of human breast cancer research and anti-cancer drug development. These models may help to improve the knowledge of underlying mechanisms and genetic pathways, as well as creating approaches for modeling clinical tumor subtypes, and developing innovative cancer therapy.