Awareness, attitude, and practice of nurses to cosmetic surgery in Ebonyi state, Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Cosmetic surgery (CS) is a rapidly growing subspecialty in Nigeria. Nurses are indispensable part of successful cosmetic surgery practice and thus plays important role in promoting the practice.

Objective: To evaluate the level of awareness, attitude and practice of CS among nurses in selected secondary and tertiary hospitals in Ebonyi state, southeast Nigeria.

Methods: A cross sectional survey was done among randomly selected nurses in the tertiary and secondary health facilities in Abakaliki between 1st September, and 30th November 2019. Data obtained was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20

Results: The mean age of the respondents and year of practice were 36.80 ± 9.46 years and 11.35 (95%CI 10.59 – 12.12) respectively. The majority (96.3%) of the respondents were aware of CS and the main source of information was from lectures received while in the nursing school. Breast augmentation and breast reduction were the commonest types of CS known. Only 17% of the respondents correctly identified that CS should be done by the aesthetic/cosmetic surgeon. Nurses in the teaching hospital had a higher propensity of recommending cosmetic surgery to a client than nurses in the secondary healthcare institutions (OR = 2.07 95% CI 1.255-3.45). Only about a quarter of the respondents will accept CS even when offered free to them

Conclusion: Our study shows a good awareness of cosmetic surgery among the respondents. Their attitude towards the CS was poor. There is need to improve attitude to CS among nurses as this can assist in improving societal acceptance of CS.