Adeyemi, Adewale S. and Afolabi, Adeola F. and Adedeji, Opeyemi A. (2015) Ovarian Cancer Symptom Awareness and Its Response among Female Health Workers. British Journal of Medicine and Medical Research, 5 (8). pp. 978-986. ISSN 22310614
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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 symptomsis 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.
Item Type: | Article |
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Subjects: | STM Digital > Medical Science |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email support@stmdigital.org |
Date Deposited: | 14 Jun 2023 11:15 |
Last Modified: | 23 Sep 2024 04:50 |
URI: | http://research.asianarticleeprint.com/id/eprint/1019 |