A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Self Instructional Module (SIM) on Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Breast Cancer Among Late Adolescents Studying in Selected Degree Colleges at Dharwad, Karnataka

Abstract

Background Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer in women. The knowledge and attitude of breast cancer is poor among adolescents. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude among late adolescents on breast cancer to develop self-instruction module and to determine effectiveness of self instruction module in improving the knowledge and attitude.Methods A evaluatory approach using one group pre-test post-test design was adopted. A sample of 335 adolescents was selected using purposive sampling technique from the selected degree colleges of Dharwad. The designed tool showed content validity index of 0.89 reliability ofnbsp knowledge 0.90 and attitude 0.88. The pretest was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude among late adolescents regarding breast cancer using a designed tool following which self-instruction module was administered. Following this post-test was conducted after thirty days using the same designed tool and the data was collected in the form of scores. The obtained scores were tabulated and computed using SPSS 20.0 version software for statistic analysis.Results The study found that mean pretest knowledge and attitude scores were less than mean post-test knowledge and attitude scores and mean enhancement in knowledge and attitude was 41.46 and 47.25 respectively. The study revealed the effectiveness of the self-instruction module on knowledge and attitude scores to be 33.54 and 29.95 for 334 degrees of freedom with P lt0.001. The knowledge and attitude levels improved to adequate knowledge and good attitude towards breast cancer. Further the study found significant association between all the socio-demographic variables except age and found no significant correlation between pretest knowledge and attitude scores.Conclusion The study found that the self-instruction module was effective in improving the knowledge and attitude and found significant association of pretest knowledge and attitude scores with selected demographic variables. The study concluded that the self-instruction module can bring significant awareness among population and recommended that more evidenced based research must be conducted to bring awareness about breast cancer among large groups.