Perception of vulnerability, knowledge and attitude towards prostrate cancer, among men in Ojoo, Akinyele local government, Ibadan

Prostate cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among men globally and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Good knowledge, attitude and perception of vulnerability could increase surveillance, uptake of preventive measures, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality rate Anecdotal reports indicate a worrisome prevalence among men in Akinyele Local Government Area, but little is known about knowledge, attitude and extent of vulnerability perception towards prostate cancer among them. Objectives Hence, we investigated the knowledge, attitude and perceptions on self-vulnerability towards prostate cancer among our participants with the hope of generating data that could be useful in instituting interventions, thereby reducing mortality and morbidity. Methods: This was a community based cross-sectional study. We utilized purposive sampling technique to select 107 men who consented and met the inclusion criteria from Ojo in Akinyele local government (Mean Age: 24.6, SD: 9.84) irrespective of their socioeconomic and educational status. Data were obtained using a structured questionnaire with 40 items and a reliability of 0.79. Analysis was done with SPSS, using descriptive statistics and Chi square at 0.05 level of significance. Results: Knowledge levels on prostate cancer was high (79.4%) among the participants, only 15% had ever received health information from health care providers, and only one-third ( 37.2%) of them knew about the availability of screening methods. Level of knowledge was influenced by religion (p =0.03), occupation (p=0.04) and educational levels (p= 0.005). Majority (77.6%), had poor attitude, while perception on levels of self-vulnerability to prostate cancer was low (14% and influenced by age (p=0.004) and marital status (p= 0.004). Conclusions and Recommendations: Findings indicated that there is high level of awareness among participants, with poor attitude, low knowledge on the availability of screening measures and poor health promotion attitude among health care providers. It is imperative that measures be put in place to create awareness on availability of screening facilities and self-vulnerability towards the disease, which might increase prostate cancer screening uptake in Akinyele LGA, Ibadan, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality.