Breast Cancer Prevalence, Awareness And Perception Of Intervention Techniques Among Women In Lagos State: A Psychosocial Analysis

ABSTRACT

This study conducted a psycho-social analysis of breast cancer focusing on variables such as prevalence of the disease within the study area, awareness and perception about it and perception of the various intervention techniques designed to control the spread of the disease. The research work was limited to Lagos State, using selected local government areas in the State. The research designs employed were the descriptive survey design coupled with the qualitative research design. A total of one thousand respondents were used as sample for the study. They were made up of 200 subjects from each of the five selected local government areas in the State. These subjects were selected using the random sampling technique. The questionnaire, interview schedule and medical records were the instruments employed for data gathering. The questionnaire and interview schedule were developed by the researcher and validated by the supervisors and other experts from other departments while the breast cancer records were gathered from selected hospitals used for the study. An initial pilot study was carried out to test the reliability of the research instruments. Chisquare, Two-Way Analysis of Variance (Anova) Duncan Multiple Range tests, Test of proportion and Factor analysis were equally employed in testing all stated hypotheses at 0.05 confidence level. A conceptual model was developed after determining the psychosocial factors responsible for breast cancer awareness, prevalence and perception in Lagos State.