Awareness about Risk Factors of Colorectal Cancer among Employees at Minia University

Abstract

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is cancer that begins in the colon or rectum, depending on where it is located, these cancers may also be called colon cancer or rectal cancer, and it is the third most common tumor in Egypt in males after urinary bladder and lymphohematopoietic malignancies and ranks fifth in females following bladder cancers. Aim of the study: The present study aimed to assess awareness about risk factors of colorectal cancer among employees at Minia University. Design: A cross-sectional design was used for this study. Setting: This study was conducted at five faculties in Minia University (Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Early Childhood Education, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Faculty of Science, and Faculty of Nursing) randomly selected. Sample: The study was conducted on 365 employees from the selected faculties to participate in this study over six months from July 2020 to December 2020. Tool of data Collection Data were collected through a structured questionnaire, consisted of two parts: Part I: personal data of employees. Part II: Bowel / colorectal cancer awareness assessment. Results: More than half (56.7 %) of the study participants had poor CRC awareness. Education, family history, occupation, and residence were the significant factors related to participants' awareness (p-value 0.00, 0.006, 0.001, 0.001 respectively). Conclusion: This study concluded that the majority of participants had inadequate awareness about colorectal cancer risk factors. There is a highly statistically significant difference as regards the level of awareness of participants and their level of education, family history of CRC, occupation, and residence. Recommendations: Encourage health practitioners to disseminate information to the general public on safe lifestyles and cancer prevention and conducting further researches to investigate barriers and misconceptions about CRC screening programs.