Ovarian Cancer Symptom Awareness and Its Response among Female Health Workers
Journal Title: Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research - Year 2015, Vol 5, Issue 8
Abstract
Objectives: To determine the level of awareness of ovarian cancer symptoms and help-seeking responses of female health workers. Methods: Four hundred and fifty seven female health workers were randomly selected and made to complete a structured proforma adapted from the Ovarian Cancer Awareness Measure (Ovarian CAM), which is a site-specific version of the generic Cancer Awareness Measure. Questions were asked on level of awareness of ovarian cancer early symptoms, anticipated time and the barriers to help-seeking responses. Results: Out of 457 clients, 211 (46.2%) were able to recall at least one warning symptom of ovarian cancer while 20 (4.4%) were able to recall more than 3 warning symptoms. On the other end, when presented with a list of warning symptoms of ovarian cancer, identification ranged from 33.7-72.0% for the symptoms. As high as 28.0% could not identify any of the listed warning symptoms though some of them are also well known symptoms of late stage of ovarian cancer as well. A range of 11.7 – 27.3% of those who have ever seen a cancer patient before will seek for immediate medical help for various ovarian cancer symptoms. Also, having experienced a form of cancer before showed no relationship with the identification of all the warning signs of ovarian cancer outlined (P value ranged from .15 to .93). Conclusion: The level of awareness of ovarian cancer warning symptoms is very low among the female health workers, and there is a poor medical help seeking habit even among those that could identify those symptoms. Efforts at improving these factors are therefore recommended.
Authors and Affiliations
Adewale S. Adeyemi, Adeola F. Afolabi, Opeyemi A. Adedeji
Keywords
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- EP ID EP345000
- DOI 10.9734/BJMMR/2015/13354
- Views 41
- Downloads 0
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