Information Seeking Behavior about Cancer and Associated Factors among Students at DebreTabor University, Ethiopia, 2019: Cross sectional study

Abstract

Introduction The prevalence of cancer has been increasing and it is among the leading cause of death in in sub-Saharan Africa over the last few years which mainly influnced by life-style. Understanding the information seeking behavior of individuals, especially Students who are more likely to seek health information than other people, can be seen as an opportunity to provide resources to improve lifestyle or prevent possible health threatening behaviors among students. The main objective of this study is to determine the health information seeking about cancer among students of Debretabor University Ethiopia.Objective The aim of this study was to assess cancer information seeking behavior (CISB) and its associated factors among students in Debre Tabor University.Methods Institutional based cross-sectional study design was conducted from March 01-30/2019. A total of 844 students were selected using multistage stratified sampling technique. Data entry and analyses were done using Epi info version 7.2 and SPSS version 20 respectively. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analyses were applied to determine proportion of cancer information seeking behavior and to identify factors associated.Result The proportion of cancer information seeking by students in the past 12 month was 30.1%. Their first source of information was healthcare providers (48%) followed by Internet (27.6%). The majority 39.8% were looked about breast cancer. Year of study, Internet access (AOR=6.07, 95%CI= 4.05, 9.10), health literacy level (AOR=1.8, 95%CI=1.21, 2.68), self-reported health condition (AOR=1.85, 95% CI=1.25, 2.73), perceived susceptibility to cancer (AOR=2.48, 95% CI=1.47, 4.2) and perceived severity of cancer (AOR=3.33, 95% CI=1.85, 6.0) were the factors associated with cancer information seeking behavior.Conclusion The proportion of cancer information seeking among university students was low. Year of study, internet access, being healthy, health literacy level, level of perception to cancer exposure and perception to severity of cancer were significantly associated with cancer information seeking behavior. Increase health literacy & awareness creation about cancer for students will help to increase cancer information seeking behavior.

Information seeking behavior on hepatitis B virus, and its associated factors among pregnant women at teaching and specialized hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

“…The belief that HBV causes a serious impact on their health may encourage the action of HBV preventive behavior if pregnant women feel threatened by the infection [ 24 ]. Individuals who perceive HBV as severe want to know the risk factors, prevention mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment of HBV [ 30 ].…”

“…This result is consistent with a previous study conducted in Ethiopia [ 21 ]. The possible explanation might be self-efficacy to health problems had a positive impact on Internet use for seeking health information and this led to reducing the burden of HBV If pregnant women were more confident about their health so they motivated to seek about HBV [ 30 ].…”

Assessment of information literacy skills and information-seeking behavior of medical students in the age of technology: a study of Pakistan

“…Internet and health literacy are fundamental facilities to improve medical student ISB (Gedefaw, 2020). Most of the students improve their health literacy search skill in workshop (Maitz et al , 2020).…”