Attitude towards health care personals of opposite gender among patients attending cancer screening: An experience from southern India

Abstract

20617 Background: This study was undertaken to assess the feasibility of a single health care personal to perform cancer screening in health camps. It is a comprehensive assessment of attitude toward disease (cancer)&health care personal, by persons attending the health camps. Methods: This is an interview based study conducted at health camps. Persons attending same were assessed to know attitude towards cancer screening&whether positive/ negative attitude is based on social or cultural constraints. They were also assessed to know any differences in the attitude if the health care person belongs to opposite gender. And the results are stratified based on socio economic strata, level of education, religion and caste. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. SPSS 7.1 program was used for the analyses. Results: A total of100 patients were interviewed. Overall willingness to participate in the cancer screening is far less (42%) and the main reason was the social taboo associated with cancer in the society by many persons (36%), the fear of being diagnosed with cancer (25%) and unable to comprehend (lack of knowledge-20%). Majority of patients have more than one reason not to participate in the screening program. Among the participants, majority of them (50%) are uncomfortable to be examined by the health care personal of opposite gender. Surprisingly this difference was more among the persons belonging to the higher socio economic strata. However when stratified based on the level of education, there are no differences in the attitude. Another stunning finding is that gender difference was more pronounced (70%) among males compared to the females. Conclusion: Overall willingness to participate in the screening is far less than satisfactory. Male persons participating in screening are more reluctant to be examined by the female health care personal, while the vice versa is not so obvious among the Andhra Pradesh population. The reluctance was observed at a higher rate among those belonging to higher socio economic group. Therefore, for a successful implementation, the first step will be educating the population and employing healthcare persons of both genders in order to avoid further attrition of persons participating in screening programs. No significant financial relationships to disclose.