Effects of Educational Intervention on Nurses' Knowledge and Attitude Towards Providing Cervical Cancer Screening Information in Selected Health Facilities in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Cervical cancer is a major cause of death among women especially in developing nations. It can be prevented through screening yet many women are unaware of screening options. Nurses are in vantage position to provide cervical cancer screening (CCS) information and services especially in antenatal clinics. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of an educational intervention (EI) on nurses' knowledge and attitude towards providing CCS information. This quasi-experimental study was conducted in eight health facilities in Ibadan, Nigeria. The facilities were randomly divided into intervention group (IG) and control group (CG). A total of 133 consenting nurses (60 in the IG and 73 in the CG) participated. Baseline data were collected using self-administered questionnaire. The nurses in the IG received the EI and both groups were administered with a post-test questionnaire after 6 months. Data were analysed using chi square and Student's t test at p = 0.05. Nurses' mean age was 41.7 years. Knowledge scores for the IG (11.8 ± 3.3) and CG (11.7 ± 3.3) were comparable at baseline (p = 0.901) but was significantly higher among nurses in the IG (14.63 ± 3.12) than CG (12.7 ± 3.5) at 6 months PI (p = 0.01). More nurses in the IG had high level of knowledge than CG. There was no significant difference in their attitude at baseline and at PI. There was a significant association between knowledge and attitude towards providing cervical cancer screening information (p < 0.000). Education improved knowledge of nurses on cervical cancer screening. Regular education programmes for nurses may result in improved counselling on major health issues like cancer.

Awareness, perception and factors affecting utilization of cervical cancer screening services among women in Ibadan, Nigeria: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Over the years awareness and uptake of cervical cancer screening services has remained poor in developing countries. Problems associated with cervical cancer incidence include late reporting, ignorance and cultural issues relating to cervical cancer screening. This study sought to explore the awareness, perception and utilization of cervical cancer screening among women in Ibadan as well as factors that influence utilization. METHOD: This is a qualitative study that utilized Eight Focus Group Discussions to collect information from women in selected health facilities in Ibadan, South West, Nigeria. The 82 participants were purposely recruited from women attending Antenatal clinics in 4 secondary and 4 primary health care facilities after approval was received from the Institutional Review Board in charge of the facilities. The focus group discussions were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were analyzed into themes. FINDINGS: The study provided qualitative information on the awareness, perception of the utilization of cervical cancer screening services among women in Ibadan. Participants were mainly married women (92.7%), mean age =27.6, SD =4.5, mainly traders (39%) and from Yoruba ethnic backgrounds (87.8%) and had secondary education (39%). The respondents reported not being aware of cervical cancer and were not utilizing the services. Though they did not know what cervical cancer screening entailed or the screening methods, they still believed that it is important since like for other diseases will help in early detection and treatment. The participants were eager to get more information from nurses on cervical cancer about cervical cancer screening. The major factors identified by the women that influence screening utilization were ignorance, Illiteracy, belief in not being at risk, having many contending issues, nonchalant attitude to their health, financial constraint and fear of having a positive result. CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need for more enlightenment about cervical cancer especially by health workers. Also, cervical cancer services should be made available at very affordable cost so that women can easily access the services in order to reduce incidence of invasive cancer.

Nursing documentation: experience of the use of the nursing process model in selected hospitals in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

The descriptive study was conducted to determine the extent of utilization of the nursing process for documentation of nursing care in three selected hospitals, Ibadan, Nigeria. One hundred fifty nurses and 115 discharged clients' records were selected from the hospitals. Questionnaires and checklists were used to collect data. Utilization of nursing process for care was 100%, 73.6% and 34.8% in the three hospitals. Nurses encountered difficulties in history taking, formulation of nursing diagnoses, objectives, nursing orders and evaluation. Most nurses disagreed or were undecided with the use of authorized abbreviations and symbols (34.3%, 40.3% and 69.5%), recording errors that occurred during care (37.1%, 56.1% and 52.2%) and inclusion of change in clients' condition (54.3%, 56.1% and 73.8%). Most nurses appreciated the significance of documentation. Lack of time, knowledge and need for extensive writing are the major barriers against documentation. Seventy-seven point four per cent of the 115 clients' records from one hospital showed evidence of documentation, no evidence from the other two. Study findings have implications for continuing professional education, practice and supervision.

Nurses' knowledge of pressure ulcer prevention in ogun state, Nigeria: results of a pilot survey .

 Pressure ulcer (PU) development remains a significant complication among at-risk patients. Optimal prevention strategies start with knowledge about current evidence-based prevention interventions. A pilot study was conducted to describe nurses' level of knowledge of PU preventive interventions and to test the reliability of the Pressure Ulcer Knowledge Test (PUKT) among Nigerian nurses. One hundred, eleven (111) nurses were purposively selected from specific wards of a state teaching hospital in South West Nigeria. While 106 nurses (95.5%) correctly identified patients at risk for PU development, 78 participants (70.3%) had low (<59% correct) prevention intervention knowledge scores. No significant differences in PU prevention intervention knowledge scores were observed between nurses with different educational backgrounds (P = 0.317) or years of working experience (P >0.005). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for reliability was 0.861. The results of this study confirm that many PU prevention interventions in Nigeria are based on tradition and that a structured educational approach is needed to enable Nigerian nurses to provide evidence-based PU prevention interventions.

Professional nurses' opinion on research and research utilization for promoting quality nursing care in selected teaching hospitals in Nigeria.

The study investigated nurses' knowledge base for research conduct, attitudes towards research and perceived barriers to research utilization. Data for this descriptive survey were collected through a 41-item-structured questionnaire. The sample consisted of 500 nurses purposively selected from three tertiary hospitals in the Southern part of Nigeria. Results show that 73.4% of the respondents received instruction on research methodology, 48.6% attended research workshop previously, 68.0% have conducted research, and 27.6% have collaborated with others. Educational level has a significant effect on knowledge base (P < 0.05). Significant difference (P < 0.05) was found between the hospitals with respect to conducting research and collaboration. Fifty per cent of the respondents held positive attitudes towards research conduct and utilization, and 40.8% reported utilizing findings frequently. Inability to understand research reports and statistics were identified as barriers. Nursing services managers and educators should promote better research education focusing on practitioners' knowledge/experience and attitudes towards research.

Effects of parental involvement in HIV/AIDS preventive education on secondary student knowledge about transmission and prevention in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

This study investigated HIV/AIDS preventive health education involving nurses alone (IG1) and another involving both nurses and trained parents/ guardians (IG2) on students' knowledge of HIV/AIDS' transmission and prevention in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Subjects included 339 students selected through a multistage and stratified random sampling technique. A pre-test/post-test intervention design with control group was used. Data were obtained using questionnaire, and analysis involved the use of analysis of covariance, multiple classification analysis, and Scheffe's post-hoc test. Results show that students exposed to parental involvement had significantly better mean scores on knowledge of prevention (IG2: x=7.51; IG1: x=6.96 control: x=3.82). Furthermore, although the male students had significantly higher mean score with intervention involving only nurses, the females had higher mean score with intervention involving parents/guardians. It is recommended that parents/guardians should be trained and involved in HIV/AIDS' preventive education of secondary school students.