1St. Josephs College of Pharmacy, Cherthala, Kerala, India
2Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal University, Karnataka, India
*Corresponding Author: E-mail: daisy.augustine007@gmail.com
Online published on 16 April, 2015.
Presently more than 70% of breast cancer patients report and seek treatment in advanced stages of the disease in India.
The present study aimed at studying the knowledge gap of participants on breast cancer issues and assessing the effectiveness of planned teaching program on the topic in improving their knowledge.
A pre test was conducted and then gave a class room teaching. At the end of the session a post test was conducted. The participants included 112 the staff and students in a pharmacy college of Kerala, India during November 2009.
Structured questionnaire was developed and pre tested for assessing the knowledge of subjects on awareness of breast cancer, the risk factors, signs and symptoms, treatments and nutritional factors.
Paired t test, Chi square and Mann Whitney u tests were applied.
The mean age of the participants was 21.22(SD=3.75), 85.5% of participants were females and 91.96% of them were D.Pharm students. The mean pre test score was 6.76 (SD=2.20) and the mean post test score was 10.3(SD=1.88). Only 15.2% of the participants scored above 60% knowledge in the pretest and after the workshop 76.8% of participants scored above 60% knowledge. The paired t test comparing the mean pre and post test score gave significant results. (P=<0.001). Chi square analysis of pre test score versus demographic variables was insignificant. (P=> 0.05).
Imparting knowledge on breast cancer issues to the students will be promising in cancer control.
Breast cancer, awareness, risk factors, warning signs
