Mandengenda C, January J, Nyati-Jokomo Z, Muteti S, Shamu S, Maradzika J, Chikwasha V
Cent Afr J Med. 2014 Jan-Apr;60(1-4):8-12.
Low cancer awareness may lead to delays in cancer screening behaviour and diagnosis.
We set out to assess public awareness of cancer and perceived barriers to seeking help among the rural population of Murewa district in a cross-sectional survey of 384 conveniently selected respondents.
A self-administered and interviewer guided questionnaires were developed with the guide of the Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) used in public awareness studies.
Awareness of the occurrence of cancer in the population was high with 90.1% responding that they had heard about cancer. However, 60.6% of the respondents could not explain what cancer is. An association was identified between educational level and awareness on the existence of cancer in the population (p = 0.001). Age was also associated with awareness of the existence of cancer in the population (p < 0.001). Level of education was also associated with awareness on types of cancers with breast cancer (p = 0.0014), and prostate cancer (p = 0.001). Barriers to health (help) seeking included low levels of awareness of the availability of cancer screening and not being able to afford treatment services. Other barriers to help seeking included fear of screening and the costs of screening services. Unavailability of preventive and curative services for cancer at primary care level was another barrier to help seeking.
There is therefore an increasing need for health promotional interventions to raise public awareness of cancer and to create supportive environments for cancer prevention, screening, early detection and treatment.
癌症意识淡薄可能导致癌症筛查行为和诊断的延迟。
我们开展了一项横断面调查，对穆雷瓦区农村人口中384名方便选取的受访者进行调查，以评估公众对癌症的认识以及寻求帮助时所感知到的障碍。
在公众意识研究中使用的癌症意识测量（CAM）的指导下，设计了一份自填式和访谈员指导式问卷。
人群中对癌症发生的知晓率较高，90.1%的受访者表示听说过癌症。然而，60.6%的受访者无法解释癌症是什么。确定了教育水平与人群中对癌症存在的知晓率之间存在关联（p = 0.001）。年龄也与人群中对癌症存在的知晓率相关（p < 0.001）。教育水平还与对乳腺癌（p = 0.0014）和前列腺癌（p = 0.001）等癌症类型的知晓率相关。寻求医疗帮助的障碍包括对癌症筛查可及性的知晓水平低以及无力承担治疗服务费用。其他寻求帮助的障碍包括对筛查的恐惧和筛查服务的费用。基层医疗层面缺乏癌症预防和治疗服务是寻求帮助的另一个障碍。
因此，越来越需要开展健康促进干预措施，以提高公众对癌症的认识，并为癌症预防、筛查、早期发现和治疗创造支持性环境。
