Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practice towards Breast Cancer among Female Health Workers in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Ahmed, Y.A., Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practice towards Breast Cancer among Female Health Workers in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. Hacettepe University, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Master’s Thesis in Public Health, Ankara, 2020. Approximately 70-79% of women suffering from breast cancer in Nigeria present with advanced stage of the disease due to poor knowledge. However, there is paucity of literature exploring the knowledge of the disease among female health workers who play an essential role at the grass root of health care systems to close knowledge gaps and promote preventive practices. Objective: To assess the knowledge of breast cancer and its preventive practices among female health workers in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Nigeria (AKTH). Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 407 female health workers at AKTH using a pre-designed, pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis with the use of Chi-square test was used to examine association between dependent and independent variables. All data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 23 at 5% significance level. Results: A total of 407 female health workers participated in this study. The mean age of the participants was 31.87 years. Majority of the respondents were aware of breast cancer (96.8%), BSE (87.7%), CBE (70%) and mammography (86.7%). Although the levels of awareness were high, the practices were recorded to be lower. Two hundred and twenty three (54.8%) of the respondents practiced BSE but only 33.7% practiced it monthly. Only 7.7% of the female health workers had ever undergone a mammography examination. Occupation was observed to be the most common variable associated with knowledge and practice. Conclusion: The knowledge of breast cancer and preventive practices among the female health workers were found to be suboptimal. This highlights the need for continuous educational programs to increase breast cancer knowledge and uptake of preventive practices. Keywords: Breast cancer, knowledge, preventive practice, female health workers, Nigeria