Knowledge and Practice of Oral Cancer Self-Examination Among Community Health Workers in Benue State: An Educational Intervention Study

Community health workers (CHWs) represent a potentially scalable cadre for promoting early detection of oral cancer in resource-limited settings, given their established role as the frontline of health education in rural communities. This quasi-experimental educational intervention study evaluates changes in knowledge and practice of oral cancer self-examination (OCSE) among CHWs in Benue State, North Central Nigeria, following a structured training program. One hundred and fifteen CHWs selected from rural and peri-urban communities across four local government areas participated in a one-day structured OCSE training workshop incorporating didactic sessions, anatomical demonstrations using oral models, and supervised practical sessions. Knowledge was assessed using a validated pre- and post-test questionnaire, and skill competency was evaluated using a standardized OCSE performance checklist administered before, immediately after, and three months following training. Results indicate significant improvement in knowledge scores from a mean pre-test score of 42.3% to 81.6% immediately post-training, with retention at 74.1% at three-month follow-up. Practical OCSE performance competency improved from 29.6% pre-training to 78.3% at immediate post-training assessment. CHWs from communities adjacent to primary healthcare centers demonstrated the highest performance retention at follow-up. The study demonstrates that CHW-based OCSE training is feasible and effective in Benue State and recommends the formal integration of OCSE into the national CHW training curriculum as a scalable early cancer detection strategy. Keywords: oral cancer self-examination, community health workers, educational intervention, Benue State, early detection.