Level of knowledge and perception of ovarian cancer among pharmacy staffs in Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah (HSB)

Ovarian cancer is known as the fourth leading cancer in Malaysia, but because of lack of knowledge on ovarian cancer with the risk factors and symptoms among women, the majority of cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed at stage III and IV which it difficult to treat and five year survival rates. The objective of our reasearch is to assess the level of knowledge and perception of ovarian cancer among pharmacy staffs in Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah (HSB), Alor Setar. A cross sectional design was conducted in Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar (HSB) among the pharmacy staffs . 100 of the questionnaire were distributed to pharmacy staffs in December 2015. Data were analysed using statistical package for the social science (SPSS) version 20.0 for descriptive statistic, cross tabulation, Non-Independent T-Test and Mann-Whitney Test. For Mann-Whitney Test, if the p value is <0.05, it is considered have significant difference. The result on the general knowledge of ovarian cancer shows only 6.3% answered correctly that most ovarian lump turn out to be cyst and recognised the chances of an ovarian lump being cancer are higher in women aged 65 years old. The relationship between the general knowledge on ovarian cancer with the diploma level and degree level shows significant difference. Next, there was no significant difference on the perception of ovarian cancer among diploma level and degree level. A majority, 76% of the respondents answered correctly the symptom of ovarian cancer was pelvic and/or abdominal swelling, bloating or feeling of fullness. There was no significant difference between diploma level and degree level on the symptoms of ovarian cancer. In all, 90.6% of respondents know a women is more likely to develop ovarian cancer if she has relatives with ovarian cancer. The different of knowledge on risk factor between diploma and degree level was no significant difference. This study revealed the knowledge of ovarian cancer on symptoms and risk factors among pharmacy staffs is low. Thus, campaigns related to ovarian cancer must be organised by government in nationwide as greater level of awareness of the symptoms and risk factors of ovarian cancer is the key to earlier diagnosis and improving survival rate.