Awareness is the first step: What Ghanaian community pharmacists know about cancer

Abstract

Objectives The goal of this study was to access the knowledge of a representative sample of community pharmacists in Ghana on general cancer, risk factors, signs and symptom and most common cancer counseling points known to community pharmacists. Methods A structured online questionnaire was administered to 435 registered community pharmacists in the sixteen regions of Ghana. Key findings: Mean score for knowledge of cancer among community pharmacists was 6.8 ± 1.61 points out of a maximum score of 15 points, categorizing the overall knowledge as inadequate. The overall assessment of pharmacists’ knowledge revealed that 74.6% of the participants had inadequate level of knowledge on cancer. Mean score for knowledge of cancer signs and symptoms among community pharmacists was 3.55 ± 1.85 out of a maximum score of 7 points, categorizing the overall knowledge as inadequate. The overall evaluation indicated that 79.03% of pharmacists had inadequate knowledge of signs and symptoms cancer. Mean score for knowledge of risk factors of cancer among community pharmacists was 5.25 ± 1.15 out of a maximum score of 12 points, categorizing the overall knowledge as inadequate. The overall assessment of the knowledge score indicates that 70.34% of pharmacists had inadequate knowledge about causes and risk factors of cancer. Almost all participating pharmacists (96.5%) recommended counselling point was avoidance of smoking as a cancer preventive measure. An inverse significant correlation was found between age and knowledge scores of signs and symptoms of cancer (r = −0.077, P = 0.038). There was a statistically significant relationship between pharmacists’ level of knowledge on cancer (whether adequate or inadequate) and the cancer items. Conclusions Knowledge of cancer, its signs and symptoms and its risk factors were inadequate among community pharmacists in Ghana. Efforts should be made to improve knowledge of community pharmacists on cancer through continuous education. Also, undergraduate pharmacy training in oncology should encourage to close knowledge gap of community pharmacists on cancer.

Knowledge regarding cancer and its determinants and barriers to seeking medical help among university students in the city of Hail, KSA

“…This finding might indicate a high level of awareness of the direct effect of modifiable lifestyle riskfactors on the development of certain types of cancer. Previous studies found similar research results(Mensah et al, 2021;Calvert et al, 2021).The study result showed that the female gender had less awareness than the male gender regarding the cancer risk. This result contrasts with results from a previous study, which found that the female gender had more awareness regarding cancer than the male gender (Al-Azri et al, 2021).…”

Recent Developments in Inonotus obliquus (Chaga mushroom) Polysaccharides: Isolation, Structural Characteristics, Biological Activities and Application

“…The anticancer mechanism of IOPS mainly includes: Decreasing the expression of MMP-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9, increasing the expression of tissue metallopeptidase inhibitor 2 (TIMP-2), and decreasing the expression of NF-κB in cancer cells [2,3,8,9,[84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91].…”

Impact of brief educational intervention on knowledge of cancer among community pharmacists

“…The questionnaire for the study was extracted from previous or pre-test studies that evaluated community pharmacists in Ghana's knowledge of cancer, signs and symptoms, risk factors and cancer screening test. 13 A purposive sample of ten community pharmacists who pre-tested the previous study were used to test the post-test questionnaire after the educational intervention. A correlation test and retest scores 4 months later was 0.81.…”

“…As part of the recommendation, a contextualized online continuous professional education on cancer was organized for community pharmacists who took part in the previous or pre-test study. 13…”

“…12 Similar findings of poor knowledge were reported by a presentative sample of a nationwide survey of Ghanaian community pharmacists. 13 Some of the reasons identified were lack of continuous pharmacy education on cancer and inadequate undergraduate training in oncology. As part of the recommendation, a contextualized online continuous professional education on cancer was organized for community pharmacists who took part in the previous or pre-test study.…”