. Adam D. Burke; . Jared W. Burns; . Swati Chakraborty; . Tanima Saha; . Amitabha Ray; . Daniel M. Borsch
Volume 12, Issue 5 , June 2022, , Pages 1-7
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally. A considerable number ofdifferent cancer types may be preventable, using primary intervention techniques, such as ...
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BACKGROUND: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally. A considerable number ofdifferent cancer types may be preventable, using primary intervention techniques, such as healtheducation, cancer awareness, behaviors and lifestyle modifications. The present study conducted acomparative assessment of cancer awareness among undergraduate students of the United Statesand India.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Students from an Institution in India (KC) (55 females, 33 males),and an Institution in the United States of America (SHU) (226 female, 58 male) during 2019–2020participated in this study. Participants (n = 372) across all majors and all years (first throughfourth year) completed an online questionnaire and answered the questions on their demographiccharacteristics (e.g., gender, age, and location), academic status (e.g., year of study, major),multiple‑choice questions about cancer knowledge, and opinion questions (e.g., “where would youfind info,” “should therapies be free”). Student responses were collected using Qualtrics SurveySoftware. Excel was used to analyze responses. We conducted statistical Χ2 tests for independenceto determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between the expected frequenciesand the observed frequencies in one or more categories of a contingency table, with a significanceof ɑ = 0.01. While small sizes due to the small institutions and the response pool, we note that weachieved the necessary “n” for all tests reported.RESULTS: Our research shows a few important statistically significant differences, includingknowledge of cancer and breast lumps is dependent on location, ranking of global cancer deaths isdependent on location, and that cancer knowledge is dependent on the information source. All forΧ2 tests with P < 0.001.CONCLUSIONS: Further encouragement of education for young people in various aspects ofcancer and cancer prevention, as well as information facility and sources of reliable data, could behelpful for improving the overall health and primary prevention. A thorough assessment is neededto understand the responsible factors for the observed cancer knowledge variations among studentsof two different places.
