ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS, ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS REGARDING CANCER AMONG VILLAGE HEALTH VOLUNTEERS IN SALOK BAT SUB-DISTRICT, KHANU WORALAKSABURI DISTRICT, KAMPHAENG PHET
Keywords:
Cancer knowledge, cancer preventive behaviors, Village Health Volunteers (VHVs)Abstract
Cancer is a significant public health problem in Thailand which causes death and losing healthcare budget. Public knowledge of cancer risk factors, prevention and screening are important for people awareness. Village Health Volunteers (VHVs) play the main role of health promotion and prevention in the community. They can be role models for people. This study aimed to evaluate the cancer knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors among VHVs in Salok Bat sub-district, Khanu Woralaksaburi district, Kamphaeng Phet. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants. The study samples consisted of 54 VHVs who attended The Community-Based Project on Cancer Prevention on March 29, 2022. A validated questionnaire was used to collect the data consisting of a demographic questionnaire, knowledge about cancer questionnaire, belief and attitude toward cancer preventive behavior questionnaire, and cancer preventive and screening behaviors questionnaire. The reliability test of cancer knowledge and cancer prevention questionnaire was conducted using KR-20 and the result was at 0.73, and the reliability test of belief and attitude toward cancer preventive behavior questionnaire was conducted using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and the result was at 0.78. Data were analyzed by statistical frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The results showed that most of samples were female (87.07%), average age was 60.30 years, most of them were homemaker or unemployed-not looking for work (37.04%) and graduated from primary school (50.00%). Around 70.37% had no family history of cancer, and 61.11% had at least 1 underlying disease. Most samples had a high level of knowledge about cancer (X = 16.28, SD = 3.28), and a high level of belief and attitude toward cancer preventive behavior (X = 2.42, SD = 0.39). Moreover, this study also revealed that most samples had ever been screened. This present study provided a database of cancer knowledge and cancer prevention behavior among Village Health Volunteers in Salok Bat sub district which could be used to plan promoting healthcare knowledge and raises more awareness of cancer prevention and screening in the people.
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