Breast and Cervical Cancer Risk Factors and Screening Awareness among Nurses Working in Government Sectors in Eastern Region of Nepal

Abstract

Background: Awareness of the nurses in risk factors and screening modalities of breast and cervical cancer is helpful to reduce morbidity and mortality and increase life expectancy of women as well. This study therefore was conducted to examine the level of awareness of risk factors and screening behaviors regarding breast and cervical cancer among the nurses working in the eastern region of Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design and the quantitative research method were used for this study. Three strata was formed on the basis of geographical distribution, 1 district from mountainous region named as Sankhuwasava (33%), 3 districts from hilly region such as Panchthar, Dhankutta and Udayapur (37.5%) and 2 districts from terai named as Morang and Saptari (40%) was selected randomly. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the districts from each geographical region. Total samples were 204 (44.4% of total population). Structured and semi-structured questionnaire was developed to gather information to meet the objectives. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to obtain study results to meet the study objectives. Results: Out of 204 respondents, 32 (15.6%) had adequate knowledge of breast cancer risk factors. Majorities of the respondents 68.1% (139) had adequate knowledge on screening modalities of breast cancer. Almost half (49.5%) of the respondents had adequate knowledge on general information, risk factors and screening modalities of cervical cancer. Significant differences were observed between risk factors of breast cancer and screening modalities. Statistically significant factors influencing knowledge scores were related to the nursing profession, namely nursing qualifications, current nursing post and current workplace.

Conclusions: There is very urgent need for updating the various curricular of these categories of nurses to include courses in screening methods for early detection of such cancers like breast cancer and cervical cancer. Keywords: awareness; breast and cervical cancer; knowledge; nurses; risk factors; screening.