Knowledge and beliefs of male university students regarding prostate cancer screening in Zambia

Abstract

Non-medical male university students’ knowledge and beliefs regarding prostate cancer (PC) screening in Zambia were studied. PC is the most frequently occurring cancer in men and is an endemic problem worldwide. Screening is the most common method of early detection of the disease in an asymptomatic population. The purpose of this study was to describe the knowledge and beliefs of non-medical male students at the University of Zambia regarding PC screening in Zambia. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was used for this study to describe knowledge and beliefs of non-medical male students at the University of Zambia with regard to PC screening. The population consisted of all male students at the University of Zambia. The sample comprised all non-medical male students at the University of Zambia aged between 18 and 35, selected through a convenience-sampling technique. Questionnaires were used as the data-collection tool for this study. Descriptive quantitative statistical analysis was used to analyse the data. The ages of respondents ranged from 18 to 35 years, with a mean age of 22.8 years and median of 23.5 years. Medium knowledge (53.3% of accurate knowledge) of PC and PC screening was observed among the university students in this study. The study revealed accurate knowledge about the gender affected by PC, 142 (71%), and awareness of the symptoms of PC, 139 (69.5%). The majority of the respondents, 137 (69%), were knowledgeable about and able to identify PC symptoms as excessive urination, 39 (19.5%) in the night, and blood in the urine, 99 (49.5%). Strong positive cultural beliefs on PC screening were also noted. The majority of respondents,134 (67%), concurred that PC screening was not a taboo in their culture; 167 (83.5%) believed PC screening to be good which significantly associated with religion (p=0.000) and marital status (p=0.038); while 164 (82%) noted that PC screening did not invite more problems with significant association with religion (p=0.027) observed. A similar number of respondents (n=170, 85%) believed that men ought to undergo PC screening and that PC screening was not a waste of time. The application of the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) anticipated that knowledge and skills regarding PC would enable respondents to make healthier decisions by undergoing PC screening and that beliefs had an impact on moral decision making. The study recommended the following: the development of health education and promotion of programmes to increase awareness of PC risk factors and the benefits of prevention; increased information dissemination about PC in the media; training of more oncology specialists; and the urgency of establishing population-based cancer registries in all the ten provinces of Zambia.