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Awareness and knowledge on breast cancer screening among reproductive aged women in some parts of Ghana

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Abstract

Background

Breast cancer is the commonest cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. However, information about breast cancer is still limited in most parts of the develo** world among reproductive-aged women, i.e. aged between 18 and 60 years. This has consequences for timely diagnosis and intervention, resulting in high mortalities in most cases. Effective breast screening practices such as; screening by trained healthcare professionals, mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging play a vital role in early detection and treatment of breast cancers. The aim of this study was to assess the awareness and practice of breast cancer screening examination among reproductive aged women in Ghana. A cross-sectional descriptive survey of 1672 reproductive-aged women (between 18–60 years) was conducted in the northern (Tamale) and southern (Accra) sectors of the country. According to the population and housing census 2020, women are 16.5 million (50.1%) of which approximately 10.5 million (63.6%) are in the aged bracket of 18 to 60 years. All participants consented, were sampled randomly from communities in Tamale and Accra, and never reported to any health facility for any breast-related complications. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain responses about; awareness of breast screening programmes, knowledge of breast screening methods, knowledge of self-breast examination, willingness to undergo clinical-breast examination, and practice of self-breast examination.

Results

Responses were presented as frequency tabulations, while associations between the responses and age, education, marital status, employment status and religion were assessed by Chi-squared analysis, significant at p < 0.05. The results showed that awareness and practice of breast cancer screening methods were higher among the younger women (aged 18–30 years), with tertiary level education, married, employed and were predominantly Christians. Significant associations were found between knowledge, practice and all the factors except religion. Finally, even though 84% ot the participants were aware of breast cancer and mammography as the commonest and most effective and appropriate examination method, practice of breast cancer screening examination among the women were less than 10%.

Conclusion

In conclusion, despite the high awareness level of breast cancer screening examination of approximately 84%, practice of any of the known screening methods were just about 10%. We therefore recommend educational and health policies targeted at behavioral change that will stimulate a positive attitude to breast cancer screening practices. Additionally, efforts should be made by government and other stakeholders in healthcare to design targeted policies and improve public education techniques to promote the practice of breast cancer screening among women in Ghana.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and the ICTP through the Associate program (2020–2025) for the support I received from the two institutions. Additionally, I acknowledge the participating facilities including; Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Greater Accra regional hospital, Cocoa clinic, University of Ghana Medical Centre and GAEC Hospital all in Accra. Tamale Teaching Hospital, Tamale Central Hospital, SDA Hospital and UDS campus Clinic for allowing me to carry out the research in their facilities.

Funding

I personally funded this study with my own resources (no external funding was secured and used for this study).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiological and Medical Sciences Research Institute, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Accra, Ghana

    Issahaku Shirazu, Theophilus Akumea Sackey & Adolf kofi Awua

  2. Department of Medical Imaging, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

    Abdul-Nashirudeen Mumuni & Eric Naab Manson

  3. Department of Radiology, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana

    Yaw Boateng Mensah & Theophilus Akumea Sackey

  4. Department of Medical Physics, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana

    Issahaku Shirazu, Theophilus Akumea Sackey, Adolf kofi Awua & Eric Naab Manson

  5. Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

    Francis Hasford

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  1. Issahaku Shirazu
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Contributions

All the Authors were involved pre and post data collection and analysis during the study. The following specific activities were done by the Authors: Concept Note: IS., A-NM, YBM, TAS., FH, ENM and AkA. Pre-data collection activities including application for ethical clearance: IS, A-NM, YBM, TAS. Data collection and analysis: All Authors (IS, A-NM, YBM, TAS, FH, ENM and AkA). Drafting of Text: IS, ENM and AkA, FH, TAS. Review of Text: IS, A-NM, YBM, TAS, FH, ENM and AkA. Statistical analysis: IS, FH, AkA.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Issahaku Shirazu.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Approval was given for the research by the participating facilities and the ethical and Protocol Review Committee of the College of Basic and Applied Science, University of Ghana and the Participating Health Facilities. Additionally, the protocol and the application of same for this study was granted ethical clearance by the various Committees. The methods were performed in accordance with the guidelines and regulations as outline by the ethical and Protocol Review Committee of the College of Basic and Applied Science, University of Ghana and the Participating Health Facilities. All participants were assured of confidentiality and anonymity throughout the study.

Consent to participate

Each participant gave informed consent at study entry and offered the choice to exit from the study at any point during data collection without providing a reason for doing so.

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Each participant gave informed consent for the publication of the study entry and gave their approval for subsequent publication.

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Not applicable.

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Appendix

Appendix

1.1 The structural questionnaire

Table 7 Sociodemographic characteristics of participants
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Table 8 Questionnaires
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Shirazu, I., Mumuni, AN., Mensah, Y.B. et al. Awareness and knowledge on breast cancer screening among reproductive aged women in some parts of Ghana. Health Technol. 14, 317–327 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-023-00812-9

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