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Effectiveness of an Educational Program on Awareness of Breast Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Adolescent Omani School Students—An Interventional Study

Background and Aim: Women in Oman and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are usually diagnosed with BC at a younger age and more advanced stage, with poor five-year survival. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of breast cancer (BC) related educational programs among female Omani ado...

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Autores principales: Al-Hosni, Khadija, Chan, Moon Fai, Al-Azri, Mohammed
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10137335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37185427
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/curroncol30040314
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author Al-Hosni, Khadija
Chan, Moon Fai
Al-Azri, Mohammed
author_facet Al-Hosni, Khadija
Chan, Moon Fai
Al-Azri, Mohammed
author_sort Al-Hosni, Khadija
collection PubMed
description Background and Aim: Women in Oman and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are usually diagnosed with BC at a younger age and more advanced stage, with poor five-year survival. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of breast cancer (BC) related educational programs among female Omani adolescents. Materials and Methods: Six female-only public schools were randomly selected from three governorates of Oman and assigned to the control or interventional group. An Arabic version of the Breast Cancer Awareness Measure questionnaire was used to evaluate students attending grades 10 and 11 at baseline (T0) and after 4 weeks (T1). After T0, the intervention group participated in a one-hour BC education program involving group discussions, a slideshow presentation, leaflets, and online access to program materials and videos. Non-parametric tests were used to compare scores between intervention and control groups and within each group across time (T0 vs. T1). Results: A total of 1106 students participated, of which 547 (49.5%) and 559 (50.5%) were allocated to the control and intervention groups, respectively. Recognition of BC risk factors (Z = 18.67; p < 0.001) and symptoms (Z = 20.01; p < 0.001) increased significantly in the intervention group between T0 and T1 and compared to the control group at T1 (U = 27.27; p < 0.001, and U = 25.75; p < 0.001, respectively). Anticipated time to seeking medical help (Z = 18.67; p < 0.001) and barriers to help-seeking (Z = 7.91; p < 0.001) decreased significantly between T0 and T1 in the intervention group and compared to the control group at T1 (U = 15.78; p < 0.001, and U = 3.44; p = 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: The program increased knowledge of BC risk factors and symptoms and promoted early medical help-seeking among Omani female adolescents. Healthcare strategic planners and policy-makers in Oman and low- and middle-income countries should consider incorporating cancer education programs in the national school curriculum to minimize delays in BC diagnosis and improve the survival rate.
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spelling pubmed-101373352023-04-28 Effectiveness of an Educational Program on Awareness of Breast Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Adolescent Omani School Students—An Interventional Study Al-Hosni, Khadija Chan, Moon Fai Al-Azri, Mohammed Curr Oncol Article Background and Aim: Women in Oman and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are usually diagnosed with BC at a younger age and more advanced stage, with poor five-year survival. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of breast cancer (BC) related educational programs among female Omani adolescents. Materials and Methods: Six female-only public schools were randomly selected from three governorates of Oman and assigned to the control or interventional group. An Arabic version of the Breast Cancer Awareness Measure questionnaire was used to evaluate students attending grades 10 and 11 at baseline (T0) and after 4 weeks (T1). After T0, the intervention group participated in a one-hour BC education program involving group discussions, a slideshow presentation, leaflets, and online access to program materials and videos. Non-parametric tests were used to compare scores between intervention and control groups and within each group across time (T0 vs. T1). Results: A total of 1106 students participated, of which 547 (49.5%) and 559 (50.5%) were allocated to the control and intervention groups, respectively. Recognition of BC risk factors (Z = 18.67; p < 0.001) and symptoms (Z = 20.01; p < 0.001) increased significantly in the intervention group between T0 and T1 and compared to the control group at T1 (U = 27.27; p < 0.001, and U = 25.75; p < 0.001, respectively). Anticipated time to seeking medical help (Z = 18.67; p < 0.001) and barriers to help-seeking (Z = 7.91; p < 0.001) decreased significantly between T0 and T1 in the intervention group and compared to the control group at T1 (U = 15.78; p < 0.001, and U = 3.44; p = 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: The program increased knowledge of BC risk factors and symptoms and promoted early medical help-seeking among Omani female adolescents. Healthcare strategic planners and policy-makers in Oman and low- and middle-income countries should consider incorporating cancer education programs in the national school curriculum to minimize delays in BC diagnosis and improve the survival rate. MDPI 2023-04-10 /pmc/articles/PMC10137335/ /pubmed/37185427 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/curroncol30040314 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Al-Hosni, Khadija
Chan, Moon Fai
Al-Azri, Mohammed
Effectiveness of an Educational Program on Awareness of Breast Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Adolescent Omani School Students—An Interventional Study
title Effectiveness of an Educational Program on Awareness of Breast Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Adolescent Omani School Students—An Interventional Study
title_full Effectiveness of an Educational Program on Awareness of Breast Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Adolescent Omani School Students—An Interventional Study
title_fullStr Effectiveness of an Educational Program on Awareness of Breast Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Adolescent Omani School Students—An Interventional Study
title_full_unstemmed Effectiveness of an Educational Program on Awareness of Breast Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Adolescent Omani School Students—An Interventional Study
title_short Effectiveness of an Educational Program on Awareness of Breast Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Adolescent Omani School Students—An Interventional Study
title_sort effectiveness of an educational program on awareness of breast cancer risk factors, symptoms, and barriers to seeking medical help among adolescent omani school students—an interventional study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10137335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37185427
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/curroncol30040314
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