Knowledge of Breast Cancer among Women in Rivers East Senatorial District
Goodluck Azuonwu *
Department of Nursing Science, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Elizabeth Nwobiarire Amadi
Department of Human Kinetics, Health and Safety Studies, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Comfort Emma Elechi
Department of Human Kinetics, Health and Safety Studies, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Knowledge is a primary step towards achieving behaviour change in the prevention of breast cancer. In recent years, breast cancer has been prevalent especially among women, however information on the level of knowledge of this illness especially in the study location is scarce. This study thus investigated the knowledge of breast cancer among women in Rivers East Senatorial District. The descriptive cross-sectional research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study consisted of all 545,056 women in Rivers East Senatorial District with a sample size of 1,200 women determined using the Taro Yamane’s formula and selected using the multistage sampling procedure. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.74 and analysed; results were presented using charts and tables. The finding of this study showed that overall, 558(50.4%) had good knowledge of breast cancer. It was concluded that women in Rivers East senatorial District have average knowledge of breast cancer. It was recommended that, health educators should establish a sustainable awareness campaign for women about breast cancer preventive practices through the mass and social media as well as other channels of communication, such as posters, handbills, and fliers among others.
Keywords: Breast cancer, Rivers-East, knowledge, tumour.