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.
Fear of cancer is associated with cancer information seeking, scanning and avoiding: a cross-sectional study among cancer diagnosed and non-diagnosed individuals