Prostate Cancer Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs amongst Women: The Application of a Psychometrically Valid Tool (PCaKAB‐Gh) in a Large Population

Abstract

Background. The involvement of women, as health influencers, has been instrumental in improving health outcomes and quality of life. In sub‐Saharan Africa, poor knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about cancers have contributed to late detection and increased mortality. Although pharmacists have provided optimum pharmaceutical care in ensuring that prostate cancer (PCa) patients obtain maximum clinical benefits from pharmacotherapy, late detection has hindered pharmacotherapeutic outcomes. The application of the PCaKAB‐Gh tool to women has the potential to investigate their lapses in PCa knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs and further equip pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to design educational interventions. Ultimately, Ghanaian women will be well‐positioned to advise and motivate their men to screen for PCa. Method. Our pilot and psychometric studies recruited 400 and 500 participants from the Kumasi Central Market and the New Agogo Community Market, respectively. In this large population application of the PCaKAB‐Gh tool, 2000 women were simply randomly enrolled from these markets and data were collected using paper questionnaires with ethical approval. Data were entered into IBM SPSS (version 24) after cleaning and coding for analysis. The knowledge on signs and symptoms was scored and graded as “low” (≤2), “moderate” (3–5), and “high” (5–8), whilst the knowledge on causes and risk factors was stratified as “low” (≤1), “moderate” (2‐3), and “high” (4‐5). Pearson’s correlation was conducted to investigate the relationship between women’s educational status and knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. Statistical significance was established as a p < 0.05. Results. Christians and Muslims accounted for about 70% and 24% of the participants, respectively, whilst over 50% of the participants were Akans. Over 50% and 30% of the 2000 participants had high and moderate knowledge about the signs and symptoms of PCa, respectively. Knowledge about the causes and risk factors was approximately 30% high and 50% moderate amongst the participants. Negative attitudes and beliefs outcomes were observed in about 25% and 55% of the participants. A p < 0.001 was achieved in Pearson’s correlation between the educational level of respondents and knowledge on signs and symptoms (r = −0.102), knowledge on causes and risk factors (r = 0.111), attitudes (r = −0.122), and beliefs (r = 0.228). Conclusions. Our study established that market women had better knowledge on the signs and symptoms of PCa compared to the causes and risk factors. Their beliefs about PCa were worse compared to their attitudes. The development and administration of educational interventions, relying on the outcomes of this study, must involve markets, churches, and mosques as educational sites with special attention to addressing negative beliefs through a broader community‐based engagement.