title: [Effectiveness of supervised breast self-examination as educational strategy].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in the female population; consequently, there are multiple prevention campaigns. Within these campaigns, a special emphasis is given on promoting monthly breast self-examination; however, many women have never received formal education on proper method of self-examination.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To establish if the educational intervention we propose improves the breast self-examination technique.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive longitudinal study that included 52 women aged 20-40 years, attending a Family Medicine Unit of the Mexican Institute of Social Security, who were evaluated about self-examination technique before and after educational intervention, measured on a scale of 0 to 16. Statistical analysis was made with descriptive statistics and Student's t test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age was 30.76 ± 5.87 years. The mean baseline score was 3.13 ± 2.55. The final average score after a month of the educational intervention was 10.69 ± 2.74, which represents an increase in average score of 7.55 ± 3.53. There was a significant increase in assessment scores after the educational intervention (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  "Supervised breast self-examination" technique showed an increase in the ability of self-examination in patients. It can be considered an effective complementary method of teaching breast self-examination.
authors.forename: Luis Alejandro
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Santana-Chávez
authors.forename: Sandra Eugenia
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Zepeda-FloreS
authors.forename: Leslie Magdalena
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: González-Muñoz
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meléndez-Morales
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control; D016504:Breast Self-Examination / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D055815:Young Adult