kjhp Korean Journal of Health Promotion Korean J Health Promot 2234-2141 2093-5676 The Korean Society of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 10.15384/kjhp.2015.15.1.9 kjhp-15-9 Original Article Predictors of Breast Self Examination Practice among North Korean Immigrant Women HyunMi Yeul 1 SongHyo Jeong 1 LeeEun Joo 1 HongSeong Chul 2 KimSung Yob 2 LeeChang Hyun 2 College of Nursing, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea Jeju National University School of Medicine, Jeju, Korea Corresponding author：Hyo Jeong Song, RN, PhD College of Nursing, Jeju National University, 102 Jeju Daehakno, Jeju 690-756, Korea Tel: +82-64-754-3885 Fax: +82-64-702-2686 E-mail: hjsong@jejunu.ac.kr

This study was funded by a research grant from the Jeju National University Hospital.

 122015 19122015 151 915 30102014 10022015 Copyright © 2015 The Korean Society of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 2015 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background

Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women worldwide. Immigrant women face cultural and social impediments, discrimination, and emotional and mental stressors; and they participate less in breast cancer prevention services. Breast self examination (BSE) may be effective in early detection. The purpose of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to identify the practice of BSE and to examine predictors related to the practice of BSE among North Korean female immigrants residing in South Korea.

 Methods

Data were collected from a convenience sample of 131 North Korean female immigrants aged 20 years through 65 years who had attended community centers, local churches, and women's gatherings located in Incheon, Kyeongkido, Seoul, and Jeju.

 Results

This study found that 17.6% of the women performed BSE and 8.4% were taught the methods of detecting breast cancer including BSE. Two significant predictors to performing BSE were found- good perceived health status (P=.003)and education about breast cancer screening and the breast self examination (P<.001).

 Conclusions

The results showed that North Korean female immigrants who were taught the detecting methods of breast cancer including BSE were more likely to practice BSE.

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General characteristics, depressive symptoms, and acculturative stress (n=131)

Characteristics Categories N (%) Mean±SD
Age, y 20-39 72 (55.0) 36.4±11.4
40-65 59 (45.0)
Education status Middle school or under 34 (25.9)
High school or over 97 (74.1)
Marital status Married 51 (38.9)
Other status 80 (61.1)
Employment status Employed 48 (36.6)
Unemployed 83 (63.4)
Length of residence in South Korea, mo <12 25 (19.1) 43.0±34.0
12-60 73 (55.7)
>60 33 (25.2)
Menstruation status Yes 103 (78.6)
Menopause 28 (21.4)
Perceived health status Good 26 (19.8)
Bad 105 (80.2)
Depressive symptoms No (<21) 66 (50.4) 21.7±11.9
Yes (≥21) 65 (49.6)
Acculturative stress 92.4±14.4

Breast self examination and education on breast cancer screening and the breast self examination (n=131)

Characteristics N (%)
Perform breast self examination
Yes 23 (17.6)
No 108 (82.4)
Received education on breast cancer screening and the breast self examination
Yes 11 (8.4)
No 120 (91.6)

Bivariate relationships between variables and performing breast self examination

Characteristics Performs BSE (n=23) Not perform BSE (n=108) χ2 or t P
N(%) Mean±SD N (%) Mean ± SD
Age, y 37.9±9.2 36.1±11.9 0.66 0.513
Education
Middle school or under 4 (17.4) 30 (27.8) 1.06 0.302
High school or over 19 (82.6) 78 (72.2)
Marital status
Married 8 (34.8) 43 (39.8) 0.20 0.653
Other status 15 (65.2) 65 (60.2)
Employment status
Employed 10 (43.5) 38 (35.2) 0.56 0.453
Unemployed 13 (56.5) 70 (64.8)
Length of residence in South Korea, mo 39.1±28.7 43.9±35.1 -0.60 0.552
Status of menstruation
Yes 19 (82.6) 84 (77.8) 0.26 0.607
Menopause 4 (17.4) 24 (22.2)
Perceived health status
Good 9 (39.1) 17 (15.7) 6.52 0.010
Bad 14 (60.9) 91 (84.3)
Depressive symptoms 23.3±10.3 21.4±12.3 0.71 0.481
Acculturative stress 94.2±10.5 92.0±15.2 0.64 0.520
Received education on breast cancer screening and breast self examination
Yes 6 (26.1) 5 (4.6) 11.35 <0.001
No 17 (73.9) 103 (95.4)

Abbreviation: BSE, breast self examination.

Factors associated with performing breast self examination

Parameter estimate Standard error P Odds ratio 95% CI
Perceived health statusa 1.664 0.565 0.003 5.3 1.74-16.01
Received education on breast cancer screening and breast self examinationb 2.354 0.729 <0.001 10.5 2.52-43.96

Abbreviation: CI, confidence interval.

Dummy variable: Good is a reference value.

Dummy variable: Yes is a reference value.