Nursing clinical trial of breast self-examination education in China.

AIM The aim of this study was to test community-based nursing education about breast self-examination to see whether self-examination frequency could be increased. BACKGROUND Breast cancer rates in China are rising rapidly, especially in cities. The majority of Chinese women does not know about breast self-examination, and the Chinese health care system cannot provide mammograms for the millions of at-risk women throughout China. METHOD This study was a randomized clinical trial of nurse-provided, community-based teaching of breast self-examination in the urban and rural areas of Tianjin and urban and suburban areas of Shanghai. Women (n = 1510) never diagnosed with breast cancer and 40 years and older were randomized by community and stratified by urban vs. other residences. RESULTS At baseline, 9% of the intervention and 6% of the control groups did breast self-examination at least every other month. After 12 months, 34% of the intervention, but only 11% of the control, group did breast self-examination that often (P < 0.001). There was a significant impact in urban, suburban and rural areas, and intervention effects were stronger than any of the other influences tested. CONCLUSION The clinical trial showed a statistically significant increase in breast self-examination after the nursing education intervention. As no other breast cancer screening method is available in most of China, this method is best suited for the masses of people currently at risk in China.