Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Melanoma among General Practitioners in Ethiopia
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Date
2025-11-16
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background:
Melanoma is a highly malignant and aggressive skin cancer that occurs due to melanocytes. For 5 years (until 2022) in Ethiopia there were 255 cases and 117 deaths. The early diagnosis provides high chances of survival. Although healthcare professionals play an essential role in melanoma diagnosis, knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) have some significant gaps such as a lack of confidence in diagnostic instruments and insufficient training. Nevertheless, there is no extensive research on knowledge, attitudes, as well as practices of healthcare professionals particularly in low resource communities such as Ethiopia.
Objective:
This paper among Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Melanoma among General Practitioners in Ethiopia, 2025.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was done at the hospitals (N=233 selected General practitioners of July 2025 to October 2025 GC). A structured questionnaire based on various literature was used to measure Knowledge, Attitude and practice of GP. Thereafter SPSS version 27 software package was used to analyze the data. The descriptive summary statistics was calculated, the findings were illustrated with the help of texts, tables, and charts.
Result:
Among the 237 GPs 233 of them responded, most were male (160, 68.7%) with a mean age of 29.51 ± 3 years. 187 (80.3%), had less than five years of work experience and 208 (89.3%) reported that they had not received any training related to performing a total body skin examination. While 154 (66.1%) demonstrated moderate knowledge of melanoma and 222 (95.3%) had a favorable attitude toward its diagnosis and treatment, 134 (57.5%) exhibited poor practice. There is positive correlation between years of professional experience and knowledge in our study. Male participants demonstrated significantly higher practice scores.
Conclusion:
This research found a significant gap in the positive attitudes and inadequacy of practical skills in caring of melanoma among general practitioners in Ethiopia. Whereas there was an average level of knowledge and a positive attitude was observed, more than half had poor clinical practice, which indicates a desperate need to increase training, especially on skin examination skills in order to achieve early detection and better patient outcomes.
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Keywords
Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Pediatrics, Melanoma, Ethiopia