Attitude and Practice of Nurses in Imparting Knowledge on Breast Self Examination to Women in Ajman, United Arab Emirates

Background: breast cancer is a life threatening disease affecting women. awareness should be created among women for early detection of breast cancer. nurses should provide information on bse to women population as a part of their profession. the aim of this study was to assess the attitude and practice of nurses in imparting knowledge on bse to female patients.methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted among 154 nurses from different hospitals of uae during the period june -november 2009. self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. data was analysed using pasw 17 version. results: age group of the participants ranged between 20 and 59 years with a mean age of 31 years and sd of 7.3 years. majority 90.3% have positive attitude in providing knowledge regarding risk factors of breast cancer and about the purpose of performing bse. eighty eight point three percent of the nurses were with a positive attitude toward providing information about bse to all females who come to the hospital irrespective of their demand. majority, 83.8% of the nurses reported, teaching method of bse. among the respondents 60.4% reported that they follow up their clients after imparting knowledge on bse. there was a statistically significant (p<0.001) positive correlation between attitude and practice.conclusion: the results suggest the need of proving continuing educational programs to change the attitude and behavior towards imparting knowledge of bse which in-turn will have a positive effect on their practice of teaching and motivating the women group to perform bse.