Correlates of non-adherence to preventive breast cancer screenings among women in Lagos State

Abstract

Despite the fact that breast cancer is a public health concern the uptake of preventive screening for the disease remains an obstacle to its prevention. This article investigates the “Correlates of Non-Adherence to Preventive Breast Cancer Screenings (PBCS) among women in Lagos state.” The article specifically investigates the relationship between levels of education and knowledge of PBCS:- determines the relationship between religion and attitude to PBCS:- and establishes the relationship between levels of income and attitude to PBCS. The study adopted a non- experimental research design, and employed a cross-sectional survey method. Quantitative data was collected from a sample of 300 women using a simple random sampling technique. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Findings showed that most of the respondents (68.8%) had heard about PBCS; and the information was obtained mostly from health workers. Only a few respondents (24.4%) had ever practiced PBCS. Financial restraints, lack of knowledge, and negative history of breast cancer in the family were some of the reasons given by the respondents who never visited a clinic for screening. Findings further indicated that place of residence is the only factor that does not determine respondents' attitude to PBCS (X2=0.001, d.o.f =1, p value=0.974). It concluded that levels of education, religion and income play a fundamental and crucial role in the practice of PBCS among women in Lagos State.