CN14 Cancer prevention awareness among Croatian AYA population

Abstract

Malignant diseases are one of the leading public health problems. Yearly in Europe, more then 35000 children and young people suffer from malignant diseases, and about 6 thousand lose their life. There is increased need of raising awerness and making an impact, especially for young people, about attitudes in cancer prevention and screening, where nurses are most often the first point of contact and have a key role. The aim of this study was to examine the attitudes and knowledge of young people aged 18-32 in Croatia about cancer prevention. This cross-sectional study was conducted via online research-designed survey that participants have taken after electronic consent was admitted to participate in the study. This study is conducted from February to April 2022. Survey contained 21 question, divided in four categories: sociodemographic data, knowledge of cancer incidence, prevention procedures and questions about prevention self-examination separately for male and female respondents. There were total of 192 respondents, age range 18-32. 16,1% respondents are still in high school, 36,5% has completed higher education. 71,9% respondents has undergone education about cancer prevention during high school, 21,9% in elementary school. 65% respondents is not doing self-examination on a monthley bases despite that 79,5% of them is educated how to do it. 45% of male respondents are doing self-examination of testicles, 77,1% of female respondents is going to annual cervical cancer screening test to their doctors. 62% of respondents is NOT familiar wether their friends are doing self-examination. 80,7% knows a person diagnosed with cancer, but more than half of the respondents stated that information did not affect the frequency of their self-examination. Study findings are of great importance for raising awareness and impacting attitudes among young adult population in Croatia. Despite undergone education during their elementary or high school programmes, there is increased need in self-examination and preventional cancer screening programmes responses. More than half of the respondents stated that they don't know about their friends self-examination, which means that they are still embarrassed to talk about it.