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Samuel Yaw Opoku, Martin Benwell, Joel Yarney. Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, behaviour and breast cancer screening practices in Ghana, West Africa. The Pan African Medical Journal. 2012;11:28 Key words: Breast cancer, screening, mammography, Knowledge, attitude, belief, Ghana, Africa Permanent link: http://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/article/11/28/full Received: 15/02/2011 - Accepted: 02/02/2012 - Published: 17/02/2012 © Samuel Yaw Opoku et al. The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, behaviour and breast cancer screening practices in Ghana, West Africa
Samuel Yaw Opoku1,&, Martin Benwell2, Joel Yarney3
1Department of Radiography, School of Allied Health Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, 2Department of Radiography, School of Health, London South Bank University, 3National Radiotherapy Center, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra. Ghana
&Corresponding author
Samuel Yaw Opoku, Department of Radiography, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
Late presentation has been observed as the hallmark of breast cancer in Ghanaian women where over 60% of patients report with either stage 3 or 4 of the disease. This cross-sectional study aimed at exploring breast cancer related knowledge and practices in order to develop an appropriate socio-economic and cultural specific model to improve breast cancer care in Ghana.
The study which was conducted in Accra and Sunyani in Ghana used both quantitative and qualitative methods and employed the theory of planned behavior as a communication and educational model. Information was collected from 474 women using questionnaires. In addition semi-structured interviews were conducted on 10 breast cancer patients; 10 breast clinic attendants; 3 Oncology Consultants and 2 herbalists.
Generally, the respondents displayed knowledge deficit about the disease. However, higher levels of education was associated with better appreciation of the disease (rs =0.316, N= 465, p < 0.001). The respondents’ attitudes include fear of the disease which was linked to death in most cases; denial and guilt; as well as supernatural attributes. The self-reported breast cancer screening rate (BSE 32%, CBE 12% and mammogram 2%) was poor, however, higher educational of the respondents was very significant for breast cancer screening practices.
The study found that routine mammography screening is not feasible in Ghana at the moment which therefore requires a different approach
