Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Testicular Self-Examination Among Male Undergraduate Students of Computing and Engineering Sciences in Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State

Abstract

Testicular cancer is the most common cancer among young men and early detection improves its prognosis. Meanwhile, testicular self-examination (TSE) is a secondary prevention measure that is easy to perform and helps in the early detection of testicular cancer. There are limited studies to report the level of knowledge and practice of testicular self-examination. Therefore, this study is aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of testicular self-examination among male undergraduate students of Computing and Engineering Sciences in Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State. A descriptive cross-sectional research with a sample of 290 undergraduate students was used for the study. The students offering a course in Computer school were purposively selected from the School of Computing and Engineering Sciences, a multistage sampling technique was used and they were stratified based on their educational levels. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. A self-structured online questionnaire was used for data collection. Ethical clearance to conduct the study was obtained from Babcock University Ethical Review Committee. Permission to conduct the study was sought from the School of Computing and Engineering Sciences in Babcock University and an informed consent form was attached to the questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results show that most of the participants (88.3%) were within the ages of 15-20. The majority (54.1%) had good knowledge of TSE, 41.0% had a positive attitude, but only 14.8% had ever practiced TSE and only 11.4 % had ever had their testicles examined by medical personnel. Despite good knowledge of TSE in this study, the findings revealed that knowledge is not commensurate to attitude and practice. This underscores the need to increase the awareness of TC and TSE among young men. Clinical testicular examination and education needs to be incorporated into routine examinations of young males.