To evaluate among college students their knowledge about breast cancer, from the self-exam, preventive mastectomy to the subjective perspective of the mastectomy and it’s psychological and social consequences.
EVALUATION OF THE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BREAST CANCER AMONG COLLEGE
STUDENTS IN GOIÁS: FROM SELF-EXAM TO THE SUBJECTIVE PERSPECTIVE OF THE
MASTECTOMY.
Murilo H. C. e Silva¹, Tulio P. A. Basílio¹, Winston R. da Silva¹, Thaynara Mercadante¹, Lorranny A. S.
Ferreira¹.
¹ Federal University of Goiás.
Objective: To evaluate among college students their knowledge about breast cancer, from the self-exam,
preventive mastectomy to the subjective perspective of the mastectomy and it’s psychological and social
consequences. Methodology: The study was made with female college students, mostly of the Federal
University of Goiás (UFG), using a 10 question form with “yes” and “no” alternatives that were surveyed
online. Results: In total we’ve got 103 answered forms. Among the participants, 89,3% are found between 17
and 24 years of age. 85,4% were UFG students, 53,4% of health-related courses. 65% had already made the
breast self-exams. 94,2% have at least heard of preventive mastectomy and 53,6% of the participants would
realize a preventive mastectomy had they had a cancer related gene (BRCA 1 and 2) in their DNA. 77,7% of the
participants believe that it’s impossible to breastfeed after a mastectomy, showing that 22,3% believe that it’s
possible. 21,4% of the participants believe that a mastectomy reduces the woman femininity, and 75,72%
believe that they would be happy after the procedure, but 69,9% believe that they might suffer prejudice from
their partners due to the procedure. Conclusion: From the results we can perceive that not everyone in the
college community has realized the breast self-exam, showing the need of spreading the importance of it in the
general population. It is also perceivable that most women would do a mastectomy in fear of cancer, showing
their concern in prevent cancer. Another important point is that 21.4% of women believe that their breasts are
essential to their femininity. This is corroborated by the fact that 69.9% of women in the research believe that
they would suffer by the opposite sex had they went under mastectomy. This shows that they would feel
diminished in society for not having breasts, what is astonishing in a so considered “enlightened” group that is
the college students community, worsened by the fact that we’re talking about young women. Spreading
knowledge about the subject in this group is key to a future where women can truly feel empowered and fearless
of breast cancer, showing that their health and wellbeing is way more important than their looks.
Key words: college student, breast cancer, preventive mastectomy, femininity.