BACKGROUND AND AIM:

The most frequent type of cancer among women in Turkey is breast cancer. In fact, it accounts for 24,1% of all cancers. Early diagnosis of breast cancer facilitates treatment and increases survival. It is recommended that mammography, clinical breast examination and breast self examination should be performed for early diagnosis of breast cancer. Breast self examination performed regularly and properly is a simple and economical diagnostic tool which protects women’s privacy. This is a descriptive study to investigate nurses’ beliefs about breast cancer and breast self examination and their breast self examination performance. Knowing nurses’ beliefs about breast cancer and breast self examination will increase breast self examination performance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Data were collected with a descriptive characteristics questionnaire and Champion’s Health Belief Model. t-test for independent groups was used to determine the diff erence in Champion’s Health Belief Model scores between the nurses who performed breast self examination and those who did not perform breast self examination.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:

Thirty-two percent of the nurses performed breast self examination regularly every month. There was a signifi cant diff erence in the scores on susceptibility, benefi ts, barriers, health motivation and confi dence between the nurses who performed breast self examination and those who did not perform breast self examination. However, there was no signifi cant diff erence in seriousness between the groups. The results of this study showed that beliefs were eff ective on breast self examination performance.

Keywords: nurse, breast self examination, health beliefs