Knowledge of breast cancer, willingness and barriers to mammography screening among rural women in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Background: Breast cancer is a serious public health threat. Mammography is the most reliable screening method that detects breast cancer early, enabling early onset of treatment which improves the prognosis of the disease. Objectives: To determine women's knowledge of breast cancer, as well as barriers and willingness of women to participate in mammography screening. Methods: Using the cross-sectional survey design, we sampled and studied two rural communities of Enugu State, Nigeria. Two researcher-made questionnaires were used for the study. Frequencies, percentages, chi-square and regression analysis were employed in data analysis. Results: Only 11.4 percent of study participants had good knowledge of breast cancer. There were significant differences in knowledge of breast cancer based on level of education (χ2 = 15.670; p =.001), monthly income (χ2 =6.954; p = .021) and ever screened (χ2 =5.242; p =.015). Lack of money (48.0%) and lack of knowledge (30.4%) were the most reported barriers to breast cancer screening. Women that had ever screened were 92.3% less likely willing to be screened than those never screened (aOR: .077, 95%CI .011-.522, p=.009). Conclusion: Health Education should be combined with improving women's economic status and subsidizing the cost of screening to increase breast cancer screening practice.

Awareness, knowledge and screening for cervical cancer among women of a faith-based organization in Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION: cervical cancer is the second most frequent cancer among women in Nigeria. With proper screening, the disease can be detected early enough and properly managed. However, there seems to be limited knowledge of cervical cancer among women and several barriers might prevent them from accessing the screening services. We determined the awareness, knowledge and screening for cervical cancer among women of a faith-based organization in Nigeria. METHODS: we employed descriptive survey research design and purposively sampled a Catholic Parish in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. All consenting women in the Parish were used for the study. We utilized researchers' structured instrument titled 'Awareness and knowledge about Cervical Cancer and Screening' to collect data. Frequencies, percentages and logistic regression were employed for data analysis. RESULTS: awareness of cervical cancer (70.8%) and its screening (68.1%) are high but there is generally poor level of knowledge (65.3%) of different aspects of cervical cancer among the women. Age (aOR: 7.183, 95% CI 1.769-29.168; p=.006), number of children (aOR: .074, 95% CI .009- .631; p=.017), and occupation (aOR: .032, 95% CI .004-.260; p= .001 and aOR: .050, 95% CI .007-.347; p=.002) were significantly associated with knowledge of cervical cancer. Majority of the women studied had never been screened for cervical cancer (91.7%) and the reasons for not screening ranged from lack of knowledge of; where to go for screening (69.7%) and the importance of being screened (40.9%) to not feeling susceptible to cervical cancer (18.2%). CONCLUSION: there was generally poor knowledge of cervical cancer and its screening; and very poor screening practice. There is, therefore, an urgent need to improve women´s knowledge of cervical cancer and address the identified barriers in order to improve screening practices of the women.

Adverse childhood experiences and psychological distress among higher education students in Southeast Nigeria: an institutional-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) constitutes public health problems linked to adverse mental outcomes such as psychological distress during adulthood. This study examines the prevalence of ACEs and psychological distress and explores the association between ACEs and psychological distress and demographic factors among young adults. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 330 students from May 2018 to July 2018. The participants completed the Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ), Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), and the sociodemographic profile scale. We used descriptive statistics to describe the prevalence of ACEs and psychological distress in our sample. After adjusting for the demographic covariates, ACEs' association with psychological distress was determined using binary and multivariate logistic regressions. RESULTS: A total of 203 students with a mean age of 20.76 ± 2.73 years completed the study. The total mean ACE score was 4.58 ± 1.59, and the total mean psychological distress score was 20.76 ± 6.31. Most of the participants (86.7%) experienced ACEs, 14.8% reported experiencing one ACE, 30.5% reported experiencing 2-3 ACEs, and 41.3% reported experiencing 4+ ACEs. Further, about 85% of the youth have experienced at least one form of sexual abuse during childhood, and females reported a higher number of ACEs than males. Sexual abuse (OR = 2.36; 95% CI: 2.36, 7.65), physical neglect (OR = 2.87; 95% CI: 1.57, 5.31), overall ACE exposure (OR = 6.66; 95% CI: 2.41, 18.42), having 1 ACE (OR = 4.40; 95% CI: 1.32, 14.70), having 2-3 ACEs (OR = 4.13; 95% CI: 1.39, 12.29), and having 4+ (OR = 11.67; 95% CI: 3.95, 34.45) were significantly associated with psychological distress. CONCLUSIONS: ACEs are prevalent among young adults and are associated with psychological distress in adulthood. Furthermore, parental factors are associated with ACEs and psychological distress. Thus, implementation of school, community-and facility-based routine mental health screening programs is essential for prompt identification, prevention, and treatment of youth with childhood adversities and poor mental health outcomes.

Behaviour change communication for control of tuberculosis by healthcare workers in DOTS facilities in Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION: prevention and control of tuberculosis (TB) should be behaviour-centred to facilitate change of unhealthy behaviours that encourage the spread of the infective agent. This study aimed to ascertain the knowledge, beliefs and practices of Behavior Change Communication (BCC) in the control of TB by healthcare workers in DOTS in Nigeria. METHODS: using the qualitative research approach, we interviewed 38 healthcare workers from two states in Nigeria. The interview questions consisted of 13 open-ended questions framed to elicit information about the health workers' knowledge, beliefs and practices of BCC in the control of TB. Analysis was done using the conventional content analysis. RESULTS: the following themes emerged: lack of knowledge and understanding about BCC; BCC believed to be important in the control of TB; lack of adequate skills for BCC; some aspects of BCC practiced; BCC was mainly done in health facilities; and lack of adequate system for maintaining long term change. CONCLUSION: the BCC training needs of healthcare workers in the area of study have been revealed. These should form the basis for effective BCC capacity building programme for healthcare workers in the prevention and control of TB. We recommended that BCC should go beyond interpersonal communication to community-wide campaign through mass media to produce a massive change in behaviour that will enable the elimination of TB.

Towards characterization of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in rural Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a public health challenge and seems to be secretly practiced in some rural communities, despite the ban in Nigeria. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to identify the activities that are involved in FGM, type(s) of FGM practiced and the knowledge of health implications of FGM among rural community members in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. METHODS: We employed exploratory design using qualitative technique. In-depth interviews were conducted with 44 adult (18 years and older) volunteers in four rural communities in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. After thematic analysis using NVivo 11 Pro software, eight sub-themes emerged, among which are: types of FGM practiced, seasons for FGM, FGM by health workers and community leaders, punishment for refusing FGM and knowledge of health implications of FGM. RESULTS: Findings show that FGM is more like a process than just an act, and type most practiced in the study area is Type 1. Circumcisers are health workers and women leaders. Knowledge of health implications of FGM was found to be low among those interviewed. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, we concluded that FGM is still practiced in some rural communities in Nigeria, maybe because of poor knowledge of health implications of FGM.