ORIGINAL: Insights into Breast Cancer Knowledge Among Female Adolescents in Delta State, Nigeria: A School-Based Study

West African Journal of Medicine 2024 February; 41(2): 197-201 PMID: 38583066

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among female adolescents. It is usually aggressive in this age group with poor prognosis.

Objective: This study assessed the general knowledge of breast cancer among secondary school adolescent females in Delta State, Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional, non-experiment design and a multistage sampling technique was employed in selecting 411 participants from a population of female senior secondary school two (SSS2) students in four public schools in Delta State, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection which was analyzed using SPSS version 23.

Results: The mean age of respondents was 15.65±1.11 years. The mean score for the general breast cancer knowledge was 4.2±1.6 and 3.5±1.9 for knowledge of the risk factors. The findings showed that 9.0%, 37.7%, and 53.3% of the respondents had good, average, and poor general knowledge of breast cancer respectively while 1.9%, 30.6%, and 67.5% had good, average, and poor knowledge of the risk factors and symptoms. There was no significant relationship between the age of respondents and level of knowledge of breast cancer (X2 = 2.820, P = 0.24).

Conclusions: The respondents had poor knowledge of breast cancer, its risk factors, and symptoms. Educational intervention may help to improve their knowledge level of breast cancer.