Korean Journal of Health & Nursing (Korean J Health Nurs, KJHN)
Open Access, Peer Reviewed
pISSN 3058-4744
eISSN 3058-5643
Original Article

Factors Associated with Breast Self-Examination Practice among Korean Women: An Exploratory Logistic Regression Analysis

Assistant Professor , Department of Nursing, Tongmyong University, Busan, Republic of Korea

Correspondence to Sung Hae Kim, E-mail: sunghae@tu.ac.kr

Korean J Health Nurs 2026;3(1):29-38. https://doi.org/10.12972/kjhn.2026.3.1.4
Received on May 19, 2026, Revised on June 21, 2026, Accepted on June 30, 2026, Published on June 30, 2026.
© Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to identify factors associated with breast self-examination (BSE) practice among Korean women. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted using an online self-administered questionnaire from November to December 2020. Eighty-three Korean women aged 20–69 years were included in the final analysis. The questionnaire assessed general and BSE-related characteristics, BSE knowledge, health beliefs regarding BSE, and BSE practice. BSE practice was dichotomized into practice and non-practice groups. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and exploratory logistic regression analysis with IBM SPSS Statistics version 25.0. Results: Among the participants, 85.5% were aware of BSE, whereas only 6.0% reported practicing BSE regularly. Logistic regression analysis revealed that family history of breast cancer (odds ratio [OR]=0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.04–0.91, p=.047), knowledge of how to perform BSE (OR=0.10, 95% CI=0.03–0.38, p=.001), and confidence in performing BSE (OR=0.92, 95% CI=0.86–0.98, p=.015) were significantly associated with BSE practice. The final model was statistically significant (χ²=23.13, p<.001), demonstrated adequate goodness of fit, and explained 32.5% of the variance in BSE practice. Conclusion: The results suggest that BSE practice among Korean women is more closely related to practical method knowledge and confidence than to general knowledge alone. Standardized community-based BSE education programs should emphasize hands-on practice, confidence building, and sustained breast awareness

Keywords

Breast Neoplasms, Breast Self-Examination, Confidence, Health Belief model, Logistic Regression