A quasi-experimental study of the effect of health education on the knowledge of breast cancer screening among nursing students in Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Knowledge of breast cancer screening is poor in developing countries and this may cause poor uptake of breast screening, late presentation in the hospital and increased mortality from breast cancer. Nurses are front-line health workers and increasing knowledge of breast screening among them is important for the education of the general public. This study aimed at assessing the effect of health education on the knowledge of breast cancer screening among nursing students in Plateau State, Nigeria.
Methods: A quasi-experimental study involving 50 female nursing students that were selected using a systematic random sampling each from the Colleges of Nursing Jos South Local Government Area (LGA) (experimental group) and Jos North LGA (control group). The intervention involved health education training in the experimental group only. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit data and composite variables were calculated for knowledge. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS Version 22. ANOVA was used to compare mean changes in knowledge scores. Results were presented in tables and p< 0.05 was taken as statistically significant.
Result: There was no statistically significant difference in mean knowledge score at baseline (p=0.07). However, there was a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of experimental and control groups post-intervention. In the experimental group, there was a statistically significant difference in the mean knowledge scores among at least two phases (F [3, 196] = [81.906], p <0.001), Effect Size=0.56.
Conclusion: Health education intervention was effective in improving knowledge of breast cancer screening.