Knowledge, Attitude and Awareness of Breast and Cervical Cancer among Women in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the level of awareness and attitude towards breast and cervical cancer screening among women in Obafemi Awolowo University  community. It further investigated the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and attitude of women towards breast and cervical cancer  screening. 460 women within age 18-60 years were recruited by means of convenience sampling at the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife  community. Data were collected on socio-demographic variables and knowledge of breast and cervical cancer. In this study, there was no statistically significant association between the different age groups, marital status, and level of education, monthly income and attitude toward breast cancer  screening except occupation and religion, which was found to be statistically significant. Although 88.8% of the respondents in this study reported having  heard about breast cancer, the study revealed that only 71.3% of them had sufficient knowledge of breast cancer, half of whom had acquired the  information from the mass media. There was a significant relationship between age, occupation and attitude toward cervical cancer screening. Most of  the women had negative attitude towards cervical cancer screening. Among the various age groups very few women had Pap smear test. Most of the  students (64.7%) and non academic staff (88.8%) had not heard about it. The academic staffs (57.5%) were more knowledgeable of the test. The study  concluded that women were more knowledgeable about breast cancer than cervical cancer.