Knowledge on risk factors and practice of early detection methods of breast cancer among graduating students of Debre Tabor University, Northcentral…

Study area and period

Debre Tabor is the biggest town in the south Gondar zone in the Amhara Regional State which is placed in the central highlands of Ethiopia and situated at a distance of 667Kms away from Addis Ababa in the Northeast direction. The geographical location of Debre Tabor town is 0110.51N.38.1 E and 11.850 N.38.017 E with an elevation of 2.706m (8.878ft) above sea level. Debre Tabor University was established as a third-generation university in Ethiopia in 2011. Currently, the university had 6 main faculty. The study was conducted from October 1- to December 15, 2020.

An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among DTU female graduating class students.

The source population was all Debre Tabor university Female students.

The study populations were all Debre Tabor university graduating female students.

The study unit was each female Debre Tabor university graduating student.

Sample size was computed based on single population proportion formula by using:

Since our population was less than 10,000 we used correction formula (no=n/1+n/N)

nf=384/1+384/674=245 students

Then we added a 10% none response rate, the total sample size became 270.

P- Single population proportion for breast cancer screening to obtain the required sample size, from the total of 684 female graduating students stratified random sampling was applied to select study participants from the source population. First students were stratified by their department. Then, the sample size was proportionally allocated to all the departments in the institution based on the number of female students in each department, after which respondents were selected by simple random sampling technique. We took 40% representative from each department since the sample size is 270 which represent 40% of the total number of female graduating students.

The data was collected by using a structured and self-administered questionnaire that was designed by reviewing previous similar studies [1, 11, 28, 29]. The questionnaire was pre-tested and evaluated by experts in the area to assess the face and content validity. The questionnaire was organized in English and it consists of all the variables that can come across the objectives of the study which are connected to socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, and practice towards early detection methods of breast cancer and risk factors.

The study assessed the knowledge of risk factors and practice of participants towards risk factors and early detection methods of breast cancer. Students' knowledge regarding risk factors and BSE scores was calculated out of the total knowledge-specific questions. Each accurate response gets one point and zeroes for the incorrect one based on the respondent's response. Finally, the respondent who scores greater than or equal to the mean score were considered as having 'good knowledge and respondents who score less than the mean score was considered as having 'poor knowledge. There were 10 knowledge assessment questions and 8 practice assessment questions with a reliability coefficient of 76% and 78% respectively which was calculated using Cronbachs alpha [1]. Before undertaking the data collection, the questionnaire was submitted to experts mainly oncologists, and other health professionals who are working in the area to test the face and content validity to assess whether they met the study objectives.

All-female graduating regular students of Debre Tabor University.

Post basic and extension female graduating students were excluded from this study.

Dependent variable Practice of breast cancer early detection methods.

Socio-demographic factors age marital status, department, year of study.

Personal and behavioral factors alcohol, smoking, use of traditional treatment, lack of information about breast cancer, fear of exposing breasts fear of being diagnosed with cancer, and lack of trust in medical care.

Clinical factors previous history of benign breast disease, family history of breast cancer, previous history of any type of cancer, previous history of co-morbidities (hypertension DM, HIV), presenting symptoms.

Knowledge of breast self-examination: was measured by considering those who answered 70% and above of BSE questions as knowledgeable, and those who got<70%non-knowledgeable [1].

The practice of BSE is defined as carrying out BSE at regular and the same time each month using a proper technique which is evidenced by the result of the questionnaire.

Regular BSE when BSE is done each month at the same time after some days of the menstrual cycle.

Occasional BSE when BSE is 1 to 3 times a year or every 3months (irregularly at any time).

Clinical breast self-examination (CBE) when an experienced health worker examines breasts Statistical Analysis.

Mass media: Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication, e.g. Radio, Television, Facebook, telegram etc.

To uphold data quality, ten data collectors and one supervisor who were health professionals (clinical nurses) were selected based on their experience in data collection and they were trained for 3days. The questionnaire was developed by the research team based on questions used in the previous peer-reviewed published articles. The questionnaire was first prepared in English language and then translated to the local language (Amharic) to facilitate communication. The collected data was revised and checked for mistakes, legibility of handwriting, completeness, and consistency by the principal investigator and supervisor daily during data collection. Any mistake or ambiguity was cleared on the spot.

After data collection was finalized, the data were categorized, and then SPSS Version 25 program was used to enter and analyze knowledge and practice on early detection methods of breast cancer and other data. Suitable descriptive analysis (Median, SD) was used to describe the study population characteristics in terms of the variables and the results were presented by using tables and figures. The degrees of association between dependent and independent variables were assessed using OR and 95% CI. A P-value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the association of knowledge and practice of SBE with independent variables.

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Knowledge on risk factors and practice of early detection methods of breast cancer among graduating students of Debre Tabor University, Northcentral...