Peoples Attitudes Towards Prostate Cancer - Research Paper Example

Objectives of the study The general research objective is to investigate people’s behaviours and attitudes towards Prostate Cancer and to use this information to develop suitable marketing strategies to re-position Prostate Cancer as an acceptable occurrence in men’s lives and eliminate the anxiety that surrounds the issue Specific objectives of the study To gather the demographic information of the respondents To find out the media type that is popular with the respondents To find out prostrate cancer awareness of the respondents To investigate sensitivity of respondents on health issues To investigate the family relationship of the respondents To investigate the respondents attitude towards community help General information Demographic data The demographic data for research include the gender, marital status, employment information, and the age of participants. From table 1 it can be seen that the number of female participants was slightly higher at 54.1% as compared to the male who comprised 45.9% of the research participants. The findings of the marital status of the participants is as shown in Table 2 where 20.3%,31.1%, 16.2% and 32.4% indicated their marital status to be single, married, living with a partner and in a relationship respectively. From table 3 it is observed that the majority of the respondents were in age group 18-30 with 70.3% of the participants falling in this group while 13.5% were from age group 31-40. From the table it can also be seen that under 18 and over 40 both consisted 8.1% of the participants. In table 4 it can be seen that majority of the participants were fully engaged in their studies as they indicated that they were students when asked about there occupation. From the same table it is observed that 18.9%, 10.8%, 6.8% and 2.7% of the respondents indicated that thee occupation was in administration, customer service, management and sales/marketing respectively. TABLE 1 Gender of participant Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Female 40 54.1 54.1 54.1 Male 34 45.9 45.9 100.0 Total 74 100.0 100.0 TABLE 2 marital status Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Single 15 20.3 20.3 20.3 Married 23 31.1 31.1 51.4 Living with partner 12 16.2 16.2 67.6 In a relationship 24 32.4 32.4 100.0 Total 74 100.0 100.0 TABLE3 Age group of participants Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Under 18 6 8.1 8.1 8.1 18-30 52 70.3 70.3 78.4 31-40 10 13.5 13.5 91.9 over 40 6 8.1 8.1 100.0 Total 74 100.0 100.0 TABLE 4 Participant occupation Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Student 45 60.8 60.8 60.8 Administration 14 18.9 18.9 79.7 Customer service 8 10.8 10.8 90.5 Management 5 6.8 6.8 97.3 Sales/marketing 2 2.7 2.7 100.0 Total 74 100.0 100.0 Figure 1 Media preference and social media used Apart from the demographics information the participants were asked about the the media preference and the social sites they use. From figure 2 it can be seen that the highest number of the respondents indicated that internet was there preferred media with 54% indicating that this was their preference. It is also seen from the figure that 17.5%, 14.85% and 13.5% indicated that there media of preference was television, social media and radio respectively. when asked about the social media of preference, the response was as in figure 3. From the figure it seen that facebook was the preferred social media with 50% of the respondents indicating it was their preferred social media. The second preferred social medial was YouTube at 33.7% while those who indicated that twitter and tumblr to be there preferred social media was 12.1% and 4% respectively. Figure 2 Figure 3 Knowledge and awareness Awareness and source of information The respondents were asked if they had ever heard about prostrate cancer in order to establish their awareness of the disease. As can seen from figure 4, 64.8% of the respondents indicated that they had heard about the disease while 35.1% indicated that they had not heard about the disease. This is a clear indication the disease is not publicized. This is in agreement with statistics which has shown that although the number of death caused by breast cancer is equal to the number of death caused by prostate cancer 78% of the women in Australia felt that they were well informed of breast cancer as compared to 52% of the men who felt well informed of prostate cancer (PCFA, 2002). When the respondents were asked if they had heard about little prick on television 71.6% admitted to have heard of it while 28.4% indicated they had not as illustrated in figure 5. From figure 6 it can be seen that 47.3% of those who indicated that they had heard about the disease indicated that their source of information was social media, 22.9% indicated that TV was there source of information while 18.95 and 10.8% indicated that there source of information was radio and newspaper respectively. Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Sensitivity of respondents on health issues The respondents were asked to respond to statements which served as an indicator on their sensitivity of the health of their family members. This was also used to investigate if there is stigma associated with prostrate cancer. The result of the investigation are summarized in table 4 and figure 6. From the figure it can be seen that a high number of the respondents (58.1%) strongly agreed that they could actively encourage family members or friends to be more aware of their eating habits and lead a healthier lifestyle while 23% agreed, 12.2% were neutral, 4.1% disagreed and 2.7% strongly disagreed. When the respondents were asked if they could encourage family members to take PSA test 15% indicated they strongly agreed, 17% agreed, 28.4% were neutral, 22.8% disagreed while 15.5% strongly disagreed. This could be an indication that there is lack of information about diagnosis of prostrate cancer. Those who were neutral could have been non committal due to lack of information while those who disagreed could be having a misconception about the PSA test like the test having side effects, it being time consuming or being painful. When asked if they would support family member or friend who had prostate cancer most of the respondents in agreement with the statement with 52.7% strongly agreeing while 27% agreed. This a clear indication that there is high family health concern for the respondents most of whom were between 18-30 years of age. The response on the statement that the respondents would feel ashamed or unsecure talking about prostate cancer indicated that there is stigma towards discussing the disease. As can be seen from the table 14.9% strongly agreed, 17.6% agreed, while those who indicated that they were neutral consisted of 23% of the respondents. On the response about prostate cancer being more life threatening than other diseases the majority had a neutral stand (40.5%), 16.2% agreed while 20.3% indicated that they disagreed with the statement. Those who indicated that they neutral could be an indication that they were not aware of the disease while those who were in agreement with the statement could have come from a family where a member was diagnosed with the disease at an advanced stage and died of the disease. When the respondents were asked about what can help them or family member deal with or avoid prostate cancer 68.9% indicated that early blood test was a solution, 9.4% of the respondents indicated that the disease could be cured anytime while 21.6% indicated that there was nothing that could be done as prostate cancer had no cure. Family eating habit Encourage taking of PSA Cancer friend/relative Feel ashamed Life threatening Strongly agree 58.1 15 52.7 14.9 10.8 Agree 23 17 27 17.6 16.2 Neutral 12.2 28.4 9.5 23 40.5 Disagree 4.1 22.8 6.8 27 20.3 Strongly disagree 2.7 15.5 4.1 17.6 12.2 Figure 7 Figure 8 Community help and family relation The respondents were asked about there involvement in community help. From figure 9 it can be observed that 59.5% participate in volunteering activities as a way of helping the society,28.3 offer help in terms of charity while 12.1% indicated that they do not offer any help to the community. The high percentage of the volunteer could be due to the fact that most of the respondents are students who are not yet employed and therefore are not able to offer financial or material help but can only participate in volunteer activities. There choice of participating in volunteer activities could be due the fact that they are energetic and thus enjoy participating in volunteer activities that are energy consuming. The young people are also not yet committed to family life and have enough time to participating in the volunteer activities. The volunteer activities also offer a chance to the young stars to socialize as they are socially active at this stage of their life. Figure 9 Family relation The type of family relation plays an important role in terms of communication and sharing of family resources. When the respondents were asked if they could share information about prostate cancer and related campaign with their family members 77% indicated that they could while 22.9 could not. When asked about there ideas being respected the results were as shown in figure 11 where 52.7% felt that their ideas could be respected at family levels but 47.35 indicated that there ideas could not be respected by family members. When the respondents were asked about who was the most caring member of the family 66.2% indicated that mother was the most caring while 14.9%, 12.2% and 6.8% indicated that father, sister/brother and “me” respectively to be the most caring. This is an indication that the father was likely not to receive important information from the children due to poor relationship. It may also be difficult for the father to receive the emotional support that is required when diagnosed with cancer (Cancer council,2002). Majority of the respondents (54.1%) indicated that dad had more voice in the family as compared 24.3% who indicated that mother had more voice in the family. The dad could be having voice in the family due to the fact that in many societies the father is the bread of the family and is usually in charge of the family resources. Figure 10 Idea respect in family Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent No 35 47.3 47.3 47.3 Yes 39 52.7 52.7 100.0 Total 74 100.0 100.0 Figure 11 Voice in family Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Mother 18 24.3 24.3 24.3 Father 40 54.1 54.1 78.4 Brother/sister 13 17.6 17.6 95.9 Me 3 4.1 4.1 100.0 Total 74 100.0 100.0 Most caring family member Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Mother 49 66.2 66.2 66.2 Dad 11 14.9 14.9 81.1 Brother/sister 9 12.2 12.2 93.2 Me 5 6.8 6.8 100.0 Total 74 100.0 100.0 Read More