Barriers Identified by Swedish School Nurses in Giving Information about Testicular Cancer and Testicular Self-Examination to Adolescent Males

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent school nurses in Sweden inform adolescent men about testicular cancer (TC) and testicular self-examination (TSE). A questionnaire was completed by 129 school nurses from 29 randomly selected municipalities. All respondents were women, with a mean age of 42 years. The results showed that about 6% of the school nurses had provided information on TC and 9% on TSE; however, the majority was open to presenting such information. The major reason reported for not providing this guidance was insufficient knowledge about the subject. The nurses who had given information were knowledgeable about both TC and TSE and more often informed young men about TC and TSE, whereas those who had only received information about TC were not as likely to provide information about TC or TSE. The results of this study highlight the need to educate school nurses about TC and TSE so they can include this information in their health teaching to adolescent males.