Assessment of Breast Cancer Awareness Campaigns on the Practice of Breast Self-examination: A Survey of Imo State University Undergraduates

Abstract

Breast cancer has long been thought to be a concern in developed nations, but investigations have revealed that this is no longer the case, with breast cancer now affecting both developed and developing nations. Early identification and treatment among students may be challenging to attain in cases where there is a low degree of breast cancer awareness among students through the practise of breast self-examination (BSE). The goal of this study was to determine how awareness and knowledge of Imo State University undergraduates have influenced the practise of breast self-examination. The theoretical underpinning of this investigation was the health belief model. The methodology adopted for this study was a survey research design. From a population of 20,000 students, the Wimmer and Dominick online sample size calculator was used to determine a sample size of 377. The findings indicated that IMSU students are very aware of breast cancer campaigns. Further findings indicated that undergraduate students have a high level of awareness of breast self-examination. We draw the conclusion that respondents have a very high level of awareness about breast cancer campaigns. Because respondents had a high degree of knowledge about breast self-examination due to their high level of awareness, this has had a favourable impact on their attitudes towards it. It was recommended that encouraging breast self-examination will improve early identification of breast cancer and lower the death rate to the absolute minimum. The government and health organisations are advised to launch more effective programmes on how to prevent BSE in public spaces like schools.