Insights into Breast Cancer Knowledge Among Female Adolescents in Delta State, Nigeria: A School-Based Study

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among female adolescents. It is usually aggressive in this age group with poor prognosis.

This study assessed the general knowledge of breast cancer among secondary school adolescent females in Delta State, Nigeria.

A cross-sectional, non-experiment design and a multistage sampling technique was employed in selecting 411 participants from a population of female senior secondary school two (SSS2) students in four public schools in Delta State, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection which was analyzed using SPSS version 23.

The mean age of respondents was 15.65±1.11 years. The mean score for the general breast cancer knowledge was 4.2±1.6 and 3.5±1.9 for knowledge of the risk factors. The findings showed that 9.0%, 37.7%, and 53.3% of the respondents had good, average, and poor general knowledge of breast cancer respectively while 1.9%, 30.6%, and 67.5% had good, average, and poor knowledge of the risk factors and symptoms. There was no significant relationship between the age of respondents and level of knowledge of breast cancer (X2 = 2.820, P = 0.24).

The respondents had poor knowledge of breast cancer, its risk factors, and symptoms. Educational intervention may help to improve their knowledge level of breast cancer.