Effect of Health Education on the Uptake of breast cancer screening among nursing students in Plateau State, Nigeria: A quasi-experimental study

Objective: This study aimed to assess the effect of health education on breast cancer screening uptake among female nursing students in Plateau State, Nigeria. Methods: A quasi-experimental study involving 50 female nursing students that were selected using a systematic random sampling each from the Colleges of Nursing Jos South Local Government Area (LGA) (experimental group) and Jos North LGA (control group) both in Plateau State. The intervention involved health education training in the experimental group only for six (6) weeks. The tool used was a structured questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.782. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS Version 22. ANOVA was used to compare mean changes in uptake scores as appropriate. Results were presented in tables and p< 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: The mean breast cancer screening uptake scores were 1.00 ± 0.700, 2.46 ± 0.706 and 2.54 ± 0.676 at baseline, one-month and three-month post-intervention respectively among the experimental group with a statistically significant difference in mean uptake score, (F[2, 147] = [77.982], p <0.001) (Effect size, R2=0.515). In the control group, the uptake scores were 1.04 ± 0.755, 1.16 ± 0.738, and 1.26 ± 0.694 at baseline, one month post-intervention and three-month post-intervention respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in mean uptake scores between at least two phases (F [2, 147] = (1.140), p =0.323). Conclusion: Health educational intervention can significantly improve breast screening uptake. There is a need to constantly educate youths on this benefit.