– Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Cancer Prevention Strategies Among Staff of Federal Universities in North-central Zone, Nigeria –
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of cancer prevention strategies among staff of Federal universities in North Central Zone, Nigeria.
To achieve this purpose, ex-post facto research design was used. A total of 756 staff from seven federal universities in north central zone Nigeria with a population of twenty-five thousand three hundred and sixty-one 25,361 were selected through multi-stage sampling procedures of simple random, stratified, proportionate and accidental.
The instrument used for the study was pilot tested with the use of Spearman-Brown Split Half, Gutman Split Half and Cronbach Alpha and 0.839, 0.813 and 0.859 were obtained respectively.
Out of the 756 copies of questionnaire distributed, 752 were valid for analyses. Inferential statistics of one sample t-test, Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC), regression analysis and independent sample t-test were used to test the data collected.
The results revealed that the staff of Federal Universities are knowledgeable about cancer prevention strategies, have good attitude towards cancer prevention strategies, however, are poor in practice with P values of 0.021, 0.001, 0.11 respectively,
INTRODUCTION
Cancer is a major public health concern affecting all categories of individuals worldwide. It is believed that cancer is the second most common cause of death in developed countries and among the three leading causes of death in developing countries including Nigeria.
In the light of the above, Qalawa, Mohamed and Eltay(2013),asserted that cancer is now the second leading cause of death, after cardiovascular diseases worldwide, approximately 10 million people are diagnosed with cancer annually and more than 6 million die of the disease every year.
It will be of interest to understand this health condition known as cancer, which according to America Cancer Society (2014), starts when cells in any part of the body begin to grow out of control,
the word cancer is an umbrella term that refers to about 200 diseases that share two common characteristics which are; an uncontrolled growth of cells and the ability to invade and damage normal tissues either locally or at distant sites in the body.
In addition, World Health Organisation (WHO) (2012), also described cancer as a generic term for a large group of diseases that affect any part of the body, hence, malignant tumour is often used to describe cancer.
A defining feature of cancer is the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries, and which can then invade adjoining parts of the body and spread to other organs.
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