Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

College students--Health and hygiene--Middle West; Cancer--Prevention; College students--Health and hygiene; Middle West;

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe cancer prevention behaviors practiced by traditional college-age individuals enrolled at a four year university. Specifically, the study was designed to determine what primary and secondary prevention behaviors the students were practicing and if there was a difference in prevention behaviors between males and females. Demographic information collected was limited to sex of the participant. The behavioral categories examined included tobacco use, early detection practices, alcohol use, nutrition, physical activity, ultraviolet radiation exposure, and sexual behavior. The distribution of the 210 respondents was almost equal with 102 males and 108 females participating. The study was descriptive in nature. Chi square statistics were utilized to determine if the differences between males and females was significant. All statistical analysis were executed at the P = .05 level of significance. Statistically significant differences were found between males and females for use of tobacco only with alcohol, use of smokeless tobacco, practice of self-examination, receiving regular physical checkups, current frequent alcohol use, binge drinking, nutrition, and ultraviolet radiation exposure. Sexual activity was found to be a significant factor in history of pelvic exams with Pap smears and regular check-ups for women. Use of tanning beds was a significant factor in skin self-examinations. These finding are discussed with reference to recommendations and conclusion of this study.

Year of Submission

1998

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Sue Joslyn

Second Advisor

Diane Depken

Third Advisor

Dennis Cryer

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1998

Object Description

1 PDF file (69 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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