Open AccessInfluence of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Breast Cancer Early Detection
Author(s) -
Wekesa Jackline,
Charles Mutai,
John Obiri,
Mugalavai Edward
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of medical science and clinical invention
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2454-9576
pISSN - 2348-991X
DOI - 10.18535/ijmsci/v8i011.03
Subject(s) - medicine , nonprobability sampling , breast cancer , family medicine , statistical significance , focus group , descriptive statistics , affect (linguistics) , sampling (signal processing) , sample size determination , gynecology , cancer , environmental health , population , statistics , psychology , marketing , business , computer vision , mathematics , communication , filter (signal processing) , computer science
Breast cancer has been diagnosed in majority of women worldwide over the years. It is a universal disease affecting people regardless of race, socio-economic status or culture. Delayed screening, examination and diagnosis can affect the impact of treatment and diagnosis. The objective of the study was to determine the influence of knowledge, attitudes and practices on adoption of early screening of breast cancer among women. The study employed cross-sectional and descriptive research design. A sample size of 384 households was used to obtain data from the households. The study targeted women aged 18-65 years. Sampling technique comprised of multistage sampling for the household, Quota sampling for the Focus Group Discussions and purposive sampling for the Key Informants. Primary data was gathered by use of questionnaires, Key Informant Interview guides, observation and Focus Group Discussions while secondary data was acquired through publications, journals, and internet access. All quantitative data were analysed using Microsoft excel, and Statistical package for Social Scientist (SPSS) version 20.0. The results from a Pearson chi square analysis with P>0.05 showed that knowledge on various risks to breast cancer significantly influenced the need for early adoption of screening; attitudes like curability of BCA, willingness to undertake BCA and if early detection of BCA is helpful were statistically insignificant in influencing BCA screening uptake with P>0.05, While findings indicate that there was no statistical significance between various practices and adoption of early detection of BCA in Homa Bay County. This indicated that most of the decisions to undertake early screening of breast cancer among women was less informed by their attitudes; while Practices among women indicated no statistical significance to adoption of early detection of BCA at a p>0.05. There is need for concerted public health awareness campaign on breast cancer early detection advantages in the community and by the Community Health Volunteers to encourage majority into the practice.