Objectives: To assess the knolwedge of univeristy female students about breast self examination (BSE) including the facilities, sources and the impact of residence and level of parents' education on these knolwedge.
Subjects and Method: The study included all female students of faculties of Specific Education (Group I) and Archaeology (Group II), South Valley University, Qena, Egypt. The study relied on a specially designed self-administered questionnaire developed by the researchers and consisted of three parts: The first part included collection of personal data, the second part was concerned by the knowledge of students about BSE, and the third part was concerned by the performance of BSE.
Results: Radio and TV constitute the main source for 36.3% of females had knowledge, reading about BSE and communication facilities on the internet were the following sources in Group I, while personal communication data sources are the main in group II with significant difference of distribution according to source of knowledge between both groups. Only 63 females do BSE, 30 do it monthly, 45 do it 6 monthly and 25 do it yearly; 18 females do it before date of menstrual period, 21 do it after period and 24 females do it at any time with non-significant difference between both groups. There was non-significant difference between both groups as regards the method of performing the BSE and the feedback action to notice breast changes. For both groups, irrespective of rural or urban inhabitance, the majority of females had their information through radio and TV, books and magazines are highly used by rural females of group I but by urban females of group II. Rural inhabitants performing BSE was significantly higher in both groups compared to urban inhabitants. There was significant difference between both groups categorized according to residence as regards knowledge about the methods of BSE. Educated mothers significantly affected their girls knowledge and application of facilities for gaining information and significantly higher frequency of proper choice of timing of BSE.