Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude Towards Cervical Cancer and ScreeningAssessment of Knowledge and Attitude Towards Cervical Cancer and Screening Among Female Students at Menlik Ii Health Science College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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Date
2015-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women
worldwide. About 83% of the cases occur in developing countries, representing 15% of
female cancers .In Ethiopia, prevalent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of
age with age specific incidence rate of 15.6/1000.
Carcinoma of the cervix is a preventable disease; its prevention, among other ways, is
through screening and detection of premalignant stages of the disease and treatment.
Detection of the cervical cancer however requires knowledge of the disease and cervical
cancer screening procedure so that people can be aware and positive towards screening
but in Ethiopia little has been explored about knowledge and attitude of women towards
cervical cancer screening.
Objective: To assess knowledge and attitude of Female Students aged >18 years towards
Cervical Cancer Screening in Menlik II Health Science College of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
from March 23 to April 30 2015.
Methods: A cross-sectional institutional based study was conducted on a sample of 292
Female Students aged >18 years in Menlik II Health Science College of Addis Ababa
Ethiopia using simple random sampling method .Data on knowledge status of mothers
regrinding cervical cancer screening, attitude of female students towards cervical cancer
screening and other pertinent variables were collected using self-administered
questionnaires .The gathered data was analysis the software SPSS version 20.
Results Generally the knowledge was poor, attitude was positive to majority of
respondents. The results showed that 65(22.2%) had poor knowledge, 180(61.4%) had
satisfactory knowledge and only 48(16.4%) had good knowledge. Overall 168(57.7%) of
the respondents were positive about cervical cancer screening.
Conclusions and recommendations: The study has shown that there is a lack of
knowledge on cervical cancer towards screening for premalignant cervical lesion.
There is a need to promote cervical cancer screening among women by Informing or
teach them on their susceptibility to cervical cancer and encouraging a belief that active
and regular screening can detect cervical cancer at the pre-cancerous stage, hence
enabling them early treatment and prevention of cancer development. There is also a need
for provision of Affordable screening services all over the country to enable women, after
being motivated, to go for screening.
KEY WORDS:
Knowledge, attitude, Female, Students, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Keywords
Knowledge, Attitude, Female, Students, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia