Perceptions of Women about Breast Cancer in Rural Area of Wardha District

Background: The incidence of breast cancer is seen to be low in India as compared to western countries, however the mortality is low. The knowledge about breast cancer, breast awareness and self-breast examination is the need of the hour. Breast Cancer, if caught in the early stages, makes it curable by various modalities of treatment. Our study aims here to qualitatively explore the views and ideas of the women in rural area about breast cancer and the need of a better comprehensive program. Method: A community based cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample size of 672 with a pre-tested questionnaire with open-ended questions for qualitative exploration. It was done by door-to-door survey. Resident females of the village above 30 years were included and females with chronic illness and temporary residents were excluded. Results: The mean age of participants was 42.38 ±9.76 years with 48.2% educated till secondary school and 83.2% belonged to OBC category. The perceptions were assessed with qualitative findings where it was found that most of the females believed that they don't have breast cancer even before getting screened and so they didn't want to get mammography. However they affirmed that a doorstep approach of activities would be beneficial. They also said that doorstep activities help get good information of breast cancer signs and symptoms and program like this will be a good approach. Conclusion: Doorstep approach can be a welcome change in imparting awareness.