Abstract
Background: Nursing staff is the first of a constant line of contact with the patients and serve
a prodigious responsibility. They play a pivotal role in disseminating knowledge to
the patients in their daily practice. The present study was conducted to assess the
level of cancer awareness among hospital nurses, identify the knowledge gaps and to
incorporate them into training. Cancer is the most prominent cause of morbidity and
mortality in both developed and developing countries like India where nearly 5 lakh
deaths per year occur according to the recent GLOBOCAN data. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among nurses in a tertiary care hospital in
North Delhi. Of 458 employed nurses, 53.3% nurses working in the hospital participated
in the study on a voluntary basis. A structured pretested questionnaire was administered
to the study subjects. The questionnaires were coded, and information on personal
details was not included. To warrant an effective measure of study outcomes, a Cancer
Awareness Score (CAS) was developed. CAS of individual participants was achieved by
dividing the total average score of each subject by ten that will help in quantifying
the cancer awareness. A total of 244 nurses (53.3%) out of 458 employed were surveyed.
A total of 146 forms were filled manually and 78 forms were completed electronically.
Results: The return rate was 65.5% of the CAS. The completion rate was 100% and the rejection
rate was zero. Of these 223 were female and 21 were male. The study subjects were
in the age range of 19–56 years. Out of the 244 nurses, 75.81% were aware about general
aspects of cancer. 77.5% of the nurses acknowledged that cancer is a serious health
problem in India, and 79.9% were aware of the increasing incidence of cancer. About
66.4% subjects knew that cancer is a lifestyle disease. About 75.4% were aware that
cancer is preventable, and 78.7% agreed that early detection is possible. About 23%
believed that all lumps are cancerous. Almost 75% of the study subjects were aware
of warning symptoms of cancer, nearly 90% of them were aware about all the causative
factors. In this study, 21% of nurses were observed to have one or more myths about
cancer during the survey. 23.4% believed that cancer is contagious; 25% of the study
subjects believed that cancer is familial, 13.9% believed that cancer is due to God’s
curse! Another alarming observation is that they believe that procedures such as biopsy
(17%) or surgery (21.7%) can spread cancer!. It is vital to work on removing these
myths. Conclusion: Authors perceive that the study subjects lack adequate knowledge about cancer. The
total average score of the study subjects was <75%. General awareness about cancer
treatment needs to be reinforced. There is a pressing need to bust the myths by using
appropriate information education communication strategies. Repeated training of nurses
on cancer awareness is warranted. If well equipped with knowledge on cancer, they
can further impart information to patients, caregivers and other hospital staff.
Keywords
Cancer awareness - Cancer Awareness Score - myths - nurses
