TITLE:
A Fight against Breast Cancer in Cameroon: Cross-Views of the Knowledge of the Female Population of Douala Hospitals
AUTHORS:
Henri Essome, Astrid Ndolo Kondo, Ingrid Doriane Ofakem Ilick, Christelle Enama Olinga, Moukouri Gertrude, Junie Ngaha Yaneu, Marga Vanina Ngono Akam, Gervais Mounchikpou Ngouhouo, Grâce Tocki Toutou, Fulbert Mangala Nkwele, Michel Roger Ekono, Jean Paul Engbang Ndamba, Theophille Nana Njamen, Charlotte Tchente Nguefack, Pascal Foumane
KEYWORDS:
Screening, Breast Cancer, Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, Carer, Users
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.13 No.7,
July
26,
2023
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Breast cancer in women is a global scourge due to
its frequency and high fatality rate. If screening has made it possible to
considerably reduce its incidence and its mortality in developed countries, in
our developing countries, it remains frequent with a still high mortality due
to ignorance, late and non-systematized screening. Research Question: Can
female health caregivers be incorporated into a
breast cancer screening awareness team? Objective: It aimed at
evaluating the knowledge of female health caregivers in
Douala hospitals, added to that of female users on breast cancer screening for
their efficient operationalization in this procedure. Methodology: This
was a comparative cross-sectional study for analytical purposes for a period of
07 months from January 15 to July 15, 2020 conducted by means of a structured
and pre-tested questionnaire after informed consent obtained from the
participants received in the consultation units of these hospitals. The study
variables were socio-demographic and cognitive. The data collected were entered
and analyzed using SPSS 23.0 software (statistical package for social sciences)
with a significance level established for a value of p Results: We retained 1000 women fulfilling our inclusion criteria, including 818 users
and 182 health caregivers, i.e. an
average ratio of 4 users for 1 caregiver. The average age of the users was
31.03 ± 11.31 years and that of the caregiver was 29.54 ± 8.14 years (with extremes of 15 and 67 years
identical in the two groups) with a respective median of 29 and 28 years old.
Good knowledge was significantly associated with level of education (secondary
OR = 0.38, p = 0.03 and University OR = 0.22, p = 0.001) with a predominance of
good knowledge among care givers (83.5%) against 56.2% among users. The association between caregiver and good knowledge appeared to be
statistically significant (OR = 0.25; p - 5.97) p Conclusion: At the end of our study, it
appeared that female health caregivers had good knowledge and could therefore
be enrolled in breast cancer screening awareness strategies.