Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Program on Knowledge Regarding Modifiable Risk Factors of Cancer Among Adults at Selected Rural Area of Bhavnagar District

Introduction: Cancer known medically as a malignant neoplasm is a broad group of diseases involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invading nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the body through the lymphatic system or bloodstream. Not all tumors are cancerous; benign tumors do not invade neighboring tissues and do not spread throughout the body. There are over 200 different known cancers that affect humans. The causes of cancer are diverse, complex, and only partially understood. Many things are known to increase the risk of cancer, including tobacco use, dietary factors, certain infections, exposure to radiation, and lack of physical activity, obesity, and environmental pollutants.

Objectives: To assess the pre-test level of knowledge regarding modifiable risk factors of cancer among adults in rural area. To evaluate the effectiveness of structured teaching program regarding modifiable risk factors of cancer among adults in rural area. To find out the association between pretest level of knowledge of rural adults with their selected socio-demographic variable.

Materials and methods: In this research study an evaluative research approach with pre- experimental design is used. Non probability purposive sampling technique was used to select the 100 samples of rural adults and data collection was done. Data was analyzed by using descriptive and interferential statistics such as standard deviation, chi- test, and paired 't' test Table.

Results: in the group of the adults pre-test knowledge mean score was 12.35 (41.16%) and post-test mean score was 25.08(83.06%) and T calculated value is 54.22 which are more than the tabulated value of 1.658 at 0.05 level of significance and df value was 99. So hypothesis H₁ was accepted and the entire four variable that is significantly associated with pre-test knowledge score hence the hypothesis (H₂) was accept with marital status, educational qualification, occupation and source of information.

Conclusion: Hence structured teaching program was affected for the adults regarding modifiable risk factors of cancer.