Impact of education programme on knowledge, attitude and cancer preventive behaviour of students in selected female senior secondary schools in Ibadan

Abstract

Cancer can affect any part of the body and occur in people of any age or sex. Cancerous growth can be contained if medical help is sought at the first sign of its symptom. This study examined the impact of cancer education intervention on knowledge, attitude and preventive behaviour of students in selected female secondary schools in Ibadan. The instruments used for the study were a self- developed cancer education package, a breast self-examination model and a cancer knowledge attitude and behaviour inventory (CKABI) which was tested with Crombach alpha and a reliability coefficient of r = 0.96 was obtained. Cancer education was found to significantly influence the experimental group's knowledge, attitude and cancer preventive behaviour. It was recommended that cancer education should be included in the health education curriculum of secondary schools, to equip students on how to adopt cancer preventive attitude and behaviour.