Promoting breast health awareness: Can a sensor-enabled training system for patient education help?

LaDonna Kearse; Cassidi Goll; Brett Wise; Su Yang; Hossein Mohamadipanah; Anna Witt; Pamela Ratliff; Carla Pugh

doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2023.05.003

Promoting breast health awareness: Can a sensor-enabled training system for patient education help?

Am J Surg. 2023 Oct;226(4):497-501. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2023.05.003. Epub 2023 May 3.

Authors

LaDonna Kearse¹, Cassidi Goll², Brett Wise³, Su Yang⁴, Hossein Mohamadipanah⁵, Anna Witt⁶, Pamela Ratliff⁷, Carla Pugh⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Surgery, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Department of Surgery, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Department of Surgery, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Department of Surgery, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Department of Surgery, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ Stanford Cancer Institute, Lorry Lokey Building, SIM 1, 265 Campus Drive, Ste G2103, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁸ Department of Surgery, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 37258320
DOI: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2023.05.003

Abstract

Introduction: According to a 2009 study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, 79% of women (N = 222) diagnosed with breast cancer reported that they identified their cancers through breast self-exam (BSE). However, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force does not require clinicians to teach women how to perform BSE.

Methods: To address this grave challenge, our team at the Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement (TECI) Center has developed a mobile, sensor-enabled haptic training system to teach women proper BSE technique. To validate the efficacy of the training system, our team deployed a data collection at the 2019 Breast Cancer and African Americans (BCAA) event where survey, sensor, and anecdotal data were collected from 61 participants. The custom-built breast model used in this study had a single, hard mass embedded in it.

Results: Participants at the BCAA event were able to successfully identify the mass 65% of the time and used an average force of 7.2 N. When looking at participants' confidence in their abilities to perform BSE, only 10% of respondents answered "very confident" pre-training whereas post-training, the reporting for "very confident" jumped to 66% (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: By comparison, our previous work revealed that practitioners who use less than 10 N of force are 70% more likely to miss a lesion. The integration of sensors into the BSE haptic training system allowed for objective, evidence-based assessment of hands-on skill. In addition to teaching women proper BSE technique, this training empowered women to be informed advocates in their breast health journey. Future community-based training/feedback sessions will allow for continuous advancement of the training system.

MeSH terms

Breast
Breast Neoplasms* / diagnosis
Breast Self-Examination
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Patient Education as Topic*
Surveys and Questionnaires