Magazines as a source of breast cancer information among women in Kakamega Municipality, Kenya.

Abstract

Mass media has been an important tool in educating and disseminating information in the society through both electronic and print media. The reading of magazines has evolved as one of the modern activity which has captured the interest of working women in Kenya. One of the factors that have contributed to this increase in the readership of magazines is the health content in it. The study sought to investigate the influence of consumer magazines in creating Breast Cancer awareness in Kenyan women. It assessed the effect of the health content in these magazines on the readers. Little has been done on awareness of breast cancer and this has contributed to many death; many women realize they have breast cancer at a late stage due to lack of information. Additionally, the researcher being a woman in the age bracket being investigated sought to find out if indeed magazines create awareness as far as health communication is concerned and specifically breast cancer awareness. The selected magazines for the study were; The Parents’, True love and newspaper pull- out magazines published in the month of October between 2005-2011.The study area was Kakamega Municipality in the Kakamega County. The objectives of the study were; to investigate how accessible consumer magazines are to the women in Kakamega Municipality; to analyze what issues on Breast Cancer are discussed in the selected consumer magazines and lastly to investigate whether information on Breast Cancer in these magazines help in demystifying the Breast Cancer by the working women in order to make decisions. The study adopted a mixed approach research design. Purposive sampling, snowballing and stratified random techniques were used to select the sample. The accessible population was 346 participants, of which 30% stratified sample size of 102 working women in the Education sector, banking institutions, civil society, business women as well as civil servants. The study adopted a mixed method approach. Qualitative data was reached at through in-depth interviews of purposively sampled 10 key respondents and document analysis while quantitative involved filling of 92 questionnaires. This increased the credibility of the study. The quantitative data collected was sorted, classified and analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques by use of SPSS program. Qualitative data was received in verbatim, audio recorded, transcribed and organized in sub-themes and themes. The study found out that women in Kakamega Municipality accessed consumer magazines because of many selling points in the Municipality. It was also found out that October consumer magazines had different issues on breast cancer discussed in different editions; one has to be a consistent reader to learn more. The study also found out that information on breast cancer in magazines shaped women opinion on making decisions pertaining breast cancer; they are now able to carry out Self Breast Examination, know about factors that can lead one to get breast cancer among others. This indicates magazines do communicate to women. The study recommends the government to partner with the various publishing houses in order to subsidize the prices of these magazines which are currently expensive. This will enable more women to read the magazines often to acquire knowledge. The study also recommends elite women who read magazines to take initiatives of visiting other women in churches and other women forums to create awareness on breast cancer. Publishers and distributors should also expand their readership levels by distributing the media up to the rural setups. This is aimed at playing a major role in women empowerment socially, politically, and economically as it is said a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. The researcher‟s findings are aimed at provoking more interest in this area of investigation to generate further insightful research on breast cancer communication.