Determination of Breast Self-Examination Behaviors and Beliefs in Nursing Students during the Pandemic Process: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Aim:This research was carried out to determine nursing students' self-breast examination (BSE) behaviors, health beliefs and factors that may affect them during the pandemic process. Method:The sample of this cross-sectional and descriptive study consisted of 168 students studying in the nursing department of a public university in Eastern Turkey. The data were collected online with the "Personal Information Form" and the "Health Belief Model Scale in Breast Cancer Screening". The scale has six sub-dimensions: sensitivity, caring-seriousness, health motivation, BSE benefits, BSE barriers, and self-efficacy. Descriptive statistics, independent groups t test and one-way anova test were used in the analysis of the data. Results:The average age of the students is 20.8±1.3. 34% of students are in the second year. The incidence of breast cancer in the family of students is 6%. 75% of the students stated that they heard BSE. The rate of students getting information about BSE is 70.2%. BSE application status was 37.5% before the pandemic and 14.9% after the pandemic(p