Major Predictors of Breast Cancer Screening Among Women in Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

The issue of breast cancer in the world has become a global one that is claiming lives of women all over the world. There is need to evaluate the major predictors of breast cancer screening in Southwest, Nigeria with the aim of identifying those factors that are crucial to predicting the susceptibility of women to breast cancer screening. This study investigated the major predictors of some psychosocial factors on breast cancer screening among women in Southwest, Nigeria. A descriptive research design of the survey type was adopted for the study. The population for this study comprised all women in Southwest, Nigeria. The sample consisted of 1800 women between the ages of 18 and 60 from three randomly selected States and Local Governments. A questionnaire titled “Predictors of breast screening” (PBS) was used to collect data. Expert judgments were used to ensure face and content validity. Test-retest method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument and reliability co-efficient of 0.72 was obtained at 0.05 level of significance using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis. Data collected were analyzed using Multiple Regression Analysis. The result revealed that the best predictor of women’s susceptibility to breast cancer screening is age. It was also revealed that the identified psychosocial variables significantly predict the susceptibility of women to breast cancer screening. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that there is a peak age of presentation of women to breast screening exercise. It was recommended that counselor s should design effective programmes that would create more awareness on women’s health issues as a way of detecting cancer in its early stage through breast screening.

Keywords: Predictors and breast screening