Project on Knowledge and Protective Behaviors Regarding Breast Cancer in Female Students and the Effect of Breast Cancer and Breast Self-Examination Trainings

 

Start Date: Our project, which will begin on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, one of two faculties selected from within the university, will continue through November-December.

Introduction: The project is a social contribution project supported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of the Republic of Turkey Suleyman Demirel University, numbered TSTK-2024-9502, titled "Project on Knowledge and Protective Behaviors Regarding Breast Cancer in Female Students of Suleyman Demirel University and the Effect of Breast Cancer and Breast Self-Examination Trainings." The purpose of this project is to increase the level of knowledge about breast cancer in female students studying at Suleyman Demirel University (SDÜ) through training to be provided to them, to develop knowledge and skills in breast self-examination (Breast Self Examining, BSE), and to evaluate and develop protective behaviors against breast cancer based on the health belief model.

Project Objectives: (1) To increase the level of knowledge about breast cancer in female students through training to be provided, (2) To develop knowledge and skills in BSE, which has an important role in early diagnosis, through practical training to be provided to female students, (3) To determine the sub-dimensions affecting (hindering) protective behaviors with Champion's Health Belief Model Scale in Breast Cancer Screenings, (4) To develop the health belief model in a positive direction after breast cancer and BSE training.

The expected output of the project is female students with increased awareness about breast cancer who, through both regularly examining themselves with the BSE they learned and acquired skills and screening methods they will undergo in later ages, can ensure necessary checks are performed, thereby enabling early diagnosis in a possible breast cancer situation that may develop. As with other cancer types, early diagnosis in breast cancer increases the chances of treatment and survival. Therefore, in the long term, as the widespread impact of the expected output of the project, female students with increased awareness about breast cancer and BSE will be able to live their lives as individuals with advantages in terms of lifelong early diagnosis and secondary prevention.

Female students with increased awareness will not only protect themselves secondarily but will also be able to enable other women in their families to gain awareness about breast cancer through the widespread impact on their close environment.