KNOWLEDGE AND PREVENTIVE HEALTHCARE PRACTICES AGAINST PROSTATE CANCER AMONG MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH MALE STUDENTS, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Prostate Cancer (PC) is a Public Health epidemic and the most common cancer in men as it is the second main cause of cancer death globally. There is a gap in knowledge and preventive health practices care against prostate cancer among younger individuals due to reduced perceived susceptibility to the disease. Master of Public Health male students are identified as potential change agents and elites that adopt new knowledge and preventive healthcare practices that can be translated to various communities and therefore, they should have a sound knowledge and preventive healthcare practices against prostate cancer in other to reduce it occurrence. Hence, this study investigated knowledge and preventive healthcare practices against PC among Master of Public Health male students of University of Ibadan. A descriptive cross-sectional survey using validated semi-structured self-administered questionnaire. A total sample of Master of Public Health male students from all the departments participated in the study. A 25-point knowledge scale was used to assess the knowledge of Prostate Cancer; knowledge Score (KS) of >19 rated as good knowledge, >10≤ 19 rated as fair knowledge and ≤10 rated as poor knowledge, Also, 24-point scale was used to assess preventive healthcare practices against prostate cancer; practice score of ˃17 (≥75%) rated as good while practice score of ≤17 (<75%) was rated poor. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics at p≤0.05 level of significance. Age of the respondents was 28.5±6.2 years. Majority, 78.9% was Christian and Yoruba 66.3% while 24.7% were married. Only 11.4% had relatives with prostate cancer and 65.1% had never received information on PC from healthcare professional before. Few 15.1% of the respondents’ had good knowledge, 45.8% had fair knowledge, while 39.1% had poor knowledge. Majority 64.5% had poor practices while 35.5% had good practices of preventive healthcare against prostate cancer. Intake of food that is highly rich in vitamin D was practised by 61.4% daily while 53.0% did not practice a routine medical check-up. Some 39.8% did not participate regularly in physical activity while 31.3% did not take fruits and vegetables regularly. The most reported factors influencing the preventive healthcare practices against prostate cancer included level of education 75.9% and financial constraints 68.1%. About 40.4% reported TV, Radio and Internet as the most effective sources of information on prostate cancer. There was a statistically significant difference between respondents’ level of study and preventive health care practices against prostate cancer. Many had fair knowledge but poor preventive healthcare practices against Prostrate cancer. This suggests that level of education may not be too effective in enhancing preventive healthcare practices against Prostrate cancer among Master of Public Health male students. Hence, Prostate cancer education, knowledge of prevention and the importance of preventive health care practices among male students should be intensified in various seminar presentations that are been organized in the Faculty, using audio-visual materials as aids to improve Male students’ preventive healthcare practices against prostate cancer