Ferro S, Caroli A, Nanni O, Biggeri A, Gambi A
Istituto Oncologico Romagnolo, Faenza, Italy.
Tumori. 1996 Jul-Aug;82(4):328-34.
The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to compare two methods for teaching breast self-examination: theoretical and practical session versus mailed material.
A random sample of women aged 20-64 years was drawn from the demographic file of the city of Faenza (Northern-Italy). Of 825 sampled eligible women, 168 declined participation, 657 were randomly assigned, after completing a pretest questionnaire aimed at evaluating practice and quality of breast self-examination. Individualised instruction was administered to the treatment group invited to be taught breast self-examination in a medical practice setting. The control group received mailed information about breast self-examination. One year later, 443 women completed the posttest questionnaire.
As far as concerns the first outcome of the trial (change in practice of breast-self examination) our study showed, after adjusting for lost-to-follow-up, no difference between the treatment and the control group. The analysis performed to evaluate the second outcome (change in quality of breast self-examination practice) showed that women of the treatment group improved the quality of breast self-examination practice more than the control group (Wilcoxon test, z = 2.4, P < 0.01). The same results have been confirmed by multiple regression analyses taking into account all potential confounders. No selection bias affected these results.
Theoretical and practical sessions resulted in an improved quality of examination technique than did mailed material.
本随机对照试验的目的是比较两种乳腺自我检查的教学方法：理论与实践课程与邮寄材料。
从意大利北部法恩扎市的人口档案中随机抽取年龄在20 - 64岁之间的女性样本。在825名符合条件的抽样女性中，168人拒绝参与，657人在完成旨在评估乳腺自我检查的实践和质量的预测试问卷后被随机分配。对被邀请在医疗实践环境中接受乳腺自我检查教学的治疗组进行个性化指导。对照组收到关于乳腺自我检查的邮寄信息。一年后，443名女性完成了后测试问卷。
就试验的第一个结果（乳腺自我检查实践的变化）而言，我们的研究在对失访进行调整后显示，治疗组和对照组之间没有差异。为评估第二个结果（乳腺自我检查实践质量的变化）所进行的分析表明，治疗组女性乳腺自我检查实践的质量比对照组有更大改善（Wilcoxon检验，z = 2.4，P < 0.01）。考虑所有潜在混杂因素的多元回归分析也证实了相同的结果。这些结果未受选择偏倚影响。
理论与实践课程比邮寄材料能提高检查技术的质量。
