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Predictors of Breast Self Examination Practice among North Korean Immigrant Women

Article information

Korean J Health Promot. 2015;15(1):9-15
Publication date (electronic) : 2015 December 19
doi : https://doi.org/10.15384/kjhp.2015.15.1.9
Mi Yeul Hyun1, Hyo Jeong Song,1, Eun Joo Lee1, Seong Chul Hong2, Sung Yob Kim2, Chang Hyun Lee2
1College of Nursing, Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea
2Jeju 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.

Received 2014 October 30; Accepted 2015 February 10.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Breast self-examination; Immigrants; Practice

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

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

Bivariate relationships between variables and performing breast self examination

Factors associated with performing breast self examination

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Article information Continued

Copyright © 2015 The Korean Society of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

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.

Table 1.

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

Table 2.

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)

Table 3.

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.

Table 4.

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.

a

Dummy variable: Good is a reference value.

b

Dummy variable: Yes is a reference value.