ABSTRACT

For the individuals it is important to be conscious and perform testicular self examination regarding early diagnosis in testicular cancer. The aim of this study was to assess the education given to young adult males about testicular self examination. Planned as a kind of intervention, this study was performed on 329 soldiers. A conference was given to all participants about the symptoms and early diagnosis of testicular cancer, and performing testicular self examination. The participants were requested to fill in a questionnaire under supervision before the education, and the part of the questionnaire involving the test of knowledge was performed again after the completion of the education. Of all the participants, 48.3% declared that they had never heard of testicular cancer before, 20.7% declared that they had heard about testicular self examination, and 8.8% declared that they had performed testicular self examination at least once in their life time. Of the participants, 47.4% and 97% indicated that they did not know the importance of testicular self examination in early diagnosis of testicular cancer, and would like to learn testicular self examination, respectively. The mean of correct answers given to the test of knowledge by the participants before the education was 4.06, whereas it was 11.42 after the education. This increase was statistically significant (p<0.001). When the effectiveness of the intervention used in the study was assessed, the rate of failure of 79.9% before the education decreased to 10.0% following the education. The education given to the participants about testicular self examination in this study contributed to the increase of the level of knowledge of participants. Interest in learning testicular self examination may be created and the awareness of people who are willing may be increased by means of education and campaigns.