Influence of nurse-instituted programme on skills of breast self- examination among female students in two selected Local Government in Lagos state

Abstract

Background: The role played by nurses in ensuring evidence-based practice that portrays the proper technique to perform a breast self - examination which does not only involve patient's compliance of performing it, but also when and how she performs the procedure, cannot be over emphasized.Objective: The main objective assessed the influence of nurse-instituted programme on breast self-examination among female senior secondary students in two selected local government in Lagos State. The specific objective assesses the pre and post-intervention mean score on skills of breast selfexamination among female students in two selected local government in Lagos State.Methods: One- group pretest –posttest quasi experimental design was used, and multistage sampling technique was adopted to select the sample. The sample size was determined using Scheaffer, Mendenall and Ott formula and 127 students were selected from the two schools. The hypothesis of the study was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 and presented as tables using descriptive and inferential statistics (t- test).Results: Eighty-eight (69.3%) participants were in the age range of 15 -17years, while twenty-two (17.3%) participants were within the age range of 18-20 years. Findings revealed that the participants' pre and post-intervention mean score on skills of breast self-examination were 2.99 ± 1.69 and 10.47 ± 1.32 with the mean difference of 7.48 for participants in school A and 3.09 ± 1.52 and 9.55 ± 2.12 with the mean difference of 6.46 for participants from school B. The hypothesis tested revealed a statistical difference between pre and post-intervention mean score (p= 0.00) thus the hypothesis was not rejectedConclusion and recommendation: The nurseinstituted programme was highly effective. Therefore, breast self examination should beadvocated and included in school activities in Lagos State and in Nigeria as a whole. School health nurses should design health programme for all students on breast self examination Keywords: Skills of Breast self-examination, Nurseinstituted programme, Senior Secondary Schools