Introduction:

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality among women in the world today. Therefore there is need for concerted efforts to advance interventions that seek to mitigate challenges associated with its screening. In Kenya breast cancer accounts for 23 of cancerous diseases that affect women.

Objectives:

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge levels on breast cancer among women of reproductive age in Kitui County roll out community based health education intervention CBHI targeted at enhancing breast cancer knowledge and finally to assess the effect of the CBHI on knowledge levels.

Methodology:

The study design adopted was quasi-experimental. This was adopted because it enables researchers to evaluate causal relationships when interventions or agents of causation are induced. This study was undertaken with the causal mechanism being the rollout of CBHI and the impact in knowledge of breast cancer. Two groups were evaluated intervention and control groups. The knowledge among these groups was evaluated between two time intervals end line and at baseline. Data was collected using questionnaire instruments analyzed using SPSS v23 and presented in form of tables and frequencies. Inferential analysis was achieved through binary logistic regression and Difference in Difference scores.

Findings:

Results:

The individual score analysis on different aspect of breast cancer knowledge and awareness indicated that there was a direct positive impact of the CBHI on the knowledge on breast cancer among the respondents. Significant changes observed upon the implementation of CBHI on breast cancer included respondents in the intervention group who knew at least two danger signs for breast cancer increased to 3.8 Adj. OR3.895 P0.05 95CI: 2.538-5.979 those who knew the age related risks associated with breast cancer increased by 4.1 Adj. OR4.128 P0.05 95CI: 2.940-5.797 and finally those who knew at least one Breast cancer screening method increased 7 fold among the intervention group after the rollout of CBHI Adj. OR7.011 P0.05 95CI: 4.138-11.880

Conclusion:

Breast cancer remains one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality among women in the world compared to otherrncancerous diseases affecting them. Several strategies have been implemented aimed at promoting screening uptake andrnsubsequent management of the same. However challenges still abound both behavioral and infrastructural. In mostrndeveloping countries and specifically in Kenya one of the challenges associated with poor management of these diseasesrnstems from the fact that most people remain uneducated or unaware of these diseases 13. It was therefore elemental forrnthis study to seek and understand the breast cancer awareness levels to determine the specific packages that would address the various aspects of knowledge of respondents on the disease. Once this was determined a CBHI program wasrnrolled out and comparison made in terms of knowledge in breast cancer for both control and intervention grouprnrespondents at baseline and at end line. The implementation of CBHI programs yielded quite positive results in terms of educating people about the potential signs and risks associated with the disease. This led to an increase in knowledge on breast cancer as evidenced in the results. The study therefore recommended that in order to promote the uptake of breast cancer services there is need to equip people with the necessary knowledge. Further there is need to enhance specific knowledge domains defined within the healthcare curriculum by international bodies such as WHO or that which was adopted for this study. There is also need to consider scale up of community based awareness programs as they have been found to be effective in enhancing knowledge on health matters. This is achieved by identifying the specific grey areas through conducting regular surveys and rolling out targeted interventions. There is therefore need to equip the existing health care facilities with up-to date equipment to facilitate screening and care services. Finally it has been established that among the people residing in rural areas the low level of uptake of breast cancer services was because most people had little faith in conventional medicine 2. Besides this the other barrier noted is the financial burden associated with the disease. Rural areas are defined by an overwhelming under-coverage of health insurance among poor patient populations which in turn reduces their ability to seek medical treatment and diagnostic services 14. The findings of this study indicated that the overall or level of income was significantly low. However Subramanian et al. 15 reaffirmed that Kenya has underutilized health insurance coverage.

Author(s):

Focus County(s):

Kitui County

Programme Area(s):

Non-Communicable Diseases

Research Priority Area(s):

Disease Domain(s):

breast cancer

Publication Date: 29.Sep.2020

Conference Title:

Venue: