Health Communication, Knowledge and Practice towards Prostate cancer in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

In response to the global call for strategic information to comprehend prostate cancer, this study evaluated the health communication on behavioral practice of prostate cancer in Kwara state, Nigeria. Existing studies in Nigeria on prostate cancer have mostly focused on health practitioners and their patients, ignoring specific empirical data on semi-urban and urban context. This study looks at health communication channels as predictors of knowledge, attitude, and behavioral practices, with a focus on Ilorin, Nigeria’s Kwara state, which has the highest prostate cancer prevalence rate. A total of 336 respondents from Kwara State, Nigeria, were randomly selected using the multistage sample procedure for the survey. The findings show Knowledge of prostate cancer was highest amongst study participants who used the radio (4.00 ± 1.06) and television (3.64 ± 0.51) while it was low amongst those who relied on the internet (3.48 ± 0.50) and health professionals (3.16 ± 0.66) as their primary source of information. Contrastingly, practice was highest amongst persons who used the internet (3.60 ± 0.20) as their primary information source and lowest amongst those who used the television (2.50 ± 1.52) and Health Professionals (2.44 ± 0.65). Demographically, respondents in the 46-55 age group scored the highest (3.93 ± 0.71) as compared to those in the 26-35 (3.43 ± 0.68) who scored the lowest on the knowledge scale.The study concludes that health communication outlets such as television, the Internet, radio, newspapers, and health workers have a good impact on the people of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. The study suggests creating a nationwide prostate cancer communication system to improve the knowledge, attitude and practice of people, towards the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 3.