Breast cancer is a leading cause of death among females worldwide and accounts for 25% of all cancer cases and 15% of all cancer deaths among them. Early diagnosis and timely treatment can save millions of lives. Present study is a community based cross sectional survey carried out among rural women in South India, with an aim to find out their awareness levels and knowledge on breast cancer and prevalence of practice of Breast Self Examination (BSE) among them and also examine the existing relationships between certain demographic variables i.e. age, education levels and marital status and practice of BSE. The study population comprised of 1370 rural women. Two research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The instruments used for data collection were validated structured questionnaire and a Health Educational Interventional Package (HEIP). Demographic information on the rural women was also obtained and analysed. The result of the study indicated dismal levels of awareness on breast cancer and low levels of practice of BSE among the participants. Further, the study revealed significant association between respondent’s educational level/age and practice of BSE. The study reinforces the need to develop interventional strategies to increase BSE practices, especially among the rural women and empower women with information about early detection methods of breast cancer which in turn will change the outcome of the disease.

Keywords: Demographic Variables; Breast SelfExamination; RuralWomen; Health Education; Educational Level.