Perceptions and knowledge about prostate cancer and attitudes towards prostate cancer screening among male teachers in the Sunyani Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

Introduction: Poor perceptions and attitudes about prostate cancer screening are some reasons for late reporting for PC screening and treatment. Understanding perceptions of PC and how it translates to screening and treatment is important for physicians and public health practitioners as this information clarifies existing knowledge and provides valuable information for the design of public health programmes to reduce the disease burden of PC. Objective: This study examined perceptions and knowledge about PC and attitudes towards screening among male teachers in the Sunyani Municipality. Subjects and methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving 160 teachers aged 45–60 years randomly sampled from primary, junior and senior high schools in the municipality. A structured questionnaire on background characteristics of respondents, perceptions about PC and attitudes towards early screening was used to elicit responses. Preliminary analysis summarised data on socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, perceptions and attitudes about PC screening. The Pearson’s chi square (χ2) and Fisher’s exact tests, and logistic regression analysis were later used to examine the association between socio-demographic variables, knowledge, perceptions and attitudes about PC screening. Results: The mean age of respondents was 49.52 (SD = ±3.95). PC was not considered to be transmitted sexually (58.8%) and caused by radiations from mobile phones, (40.6%). Majority of respondents agreed that PC screening is beneficial (95.0%) and disagreed with the assertion that going through PC screening is embarrassing (72%) and painful (49.3%), although the majority had never been screened (90%). There was no association between demographic variables and perceptions about PC. However, knowledge about PC was found to be significantly associated with perceptions about PC (p < 0.001). There was a significant association between knowledge of PC (p < 0.0001) and attitudes towards PC screening. Conclusion: Considering the public health significance of PC, public health programmes should go beyond awareness creation to organise educational campaigns for all socio-economic groups. These programmes should provide clarity on healthy lifestyles to prevent cancer, the health benefits of early screening, detection and treatment, screening and treatment options and the peculiarities of each to inform health-seeking choices.

Keywords

• Prostate cancer
• Perception
• Knowledge
• Screening
• Attitude
• Teacher
• Ghana