Mensah Kofi Boamah, Bangalee Varsha, Oosthuizen Frasia
Directorate of Oncology, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.
Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Front Public Health. 2019 Feb 1;7:13. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00013. eCollection 2019.
GLOBOCAN estimates that 16,600 cases of cancer occur annually in Ghana. Community pharmacists are the first point of contact to the public due to their accessibility, wide spread and credibility. They are often looked upon to provide first aid and treatment of common illness. They provide health information and support on diseases, e.g., cancer. Their role also extends to the patients' relatives. Thus, the level of knowledge and awareness of community pharmacists are of paramount importance in order to assure best healthcare advice is provided to the public. Goals of this pilot study were; (1) to collect a preliminary data on knowledge of risk factors, signs, and symptoms of cancer, (2) to ascertain the adequacy of the research survey in determining their level of knowledge, (3) to assess the viability of a full-scale study on community pharmacists. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire to assess the knowledge of signs and symptoms and risk factors of cancer among 150 community pharmacists. Score for knowledge on cancer among community pharmacists indicated that 76.7% had poor knowledge. Responses of community pharmacists toward a list of warning signs and symptom of cancer indicated poor level of knowledge (82%). Community pharmacists recorded poor level of knowledge (65.3%) on causes and risk factors for cancer. Correlation analysis shows that age has a relation with level of knowledge on signs and symptoms of cancer. This pilot study provided a valuable data which indicated that community pharmacists in Ghana have poor level of knowledge on cancer. The findings obtained from the study agree with findings of other studies conducted in this area which suggest that survey instrument was adequate to assess the knowledge level of community pharmacist in Ghana. Though the response was low, data obtained indicate a viability and need of conducting a full-scale research in this workforce to get a better assessment of the level of knowledge of community pharmacists on cancer in Ghana.
全球癌症负担数据（GLOBOCAN）估计，加纳每年有16,600例癌症病例。社区药剂师因其易接近性、广泛分布和可信度，成为公众的第一接触点。人们常常期望他们提供常见疾病的急救和治疗。他们还提供有关疾病（如癌症）的健康信息和支持，其作用还延伸至患者亲属。因此，社区药剂师的知识水平和认知程度对于确保向公众提供最佳医疗建议至关重要。本试点研究的目标是：（1）收集有关癌症风险因素、体征和症状知识的初步数据；（2）确定研究调查在确定他们知识水平方面的充分性；（3）评估针对社区药剂师进行全面研究的可行性。使用自填式问卷进行了一项横断面调查，以评估150名社区药剂师对癌症体征、症状和风险因素的了解情况。社区药剂师的癌症知识得分表明，76.7%的人知识水平较差。社区药剂师对一系列癌症警示信号和症状的回答显示知识水平较低（82%）。社区药剂师在癌症病因和风险因素方面的知识水平也较低（65.3%）。相关性分析表明，年龄与癌症体征和症状的知识水平有关。这项试点研究提供了有价值的数据，表明加纳的社区药剂师对癌症的知识水平较低。该研究的结果与该领域其他研究的结果一致，这些研究表明调查工具足以评估加纳社区药剂师的知识水平。尽管回复率较低，但获得的数据表明在这一群体中进行全面研究以更好地评估加纳社区药剂师对癌症的知识水平是可行的且有必要的。
