AWARENESS OF CHEMOTHERAPY SIDE EFFECTS AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHEMOTHERAPY USE AMONG CANCER PATIENTS ATTENDING ONCOLOGY CLINIC AT BUGANDO MEDICAL CENTRE, IN MWANZA, NORTHERN TANZANIA

Background: Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Because cancer cells generally grow and divide faster than normal cells, they are more susceptible to the action of these drugs. However, damage to healthy cells is unavoidable, and this damage accounts for the side effects linked to these drugs. Methodology: A cross section study was conducted at oncology department in Bugando Medical Centre. A sample of 216 people was recruited into the study. The data was collected by using the pre-constructed questionnaire. After data collection, the data was transferred into SPSS version 20 and analyzed. Results: The study found that 88 (40.7%) of the respondents were aware of the chemotherapy side effects whereby majority, 68 (77.3%) of these had been informed by the doctor. Most of the respondents, 197 (92.1%) had a positive attitude towards the use of chemotherapy. Conclusion: There is still poor awareness of the chemotherapy side effects among the cancer patients attending and receiving chemotherapy in oncology department at Bugando Medical Centre. However, most of the respondents had positive attitude towards the use of chemotherapy Keywords: Awareness, attitude, chemotherapy, side effects and Tanzania.