Cervical Cancer Knowledge, Perceptions and Screening Behaviour among Female University Students in Ghana (original) (raw)
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British Journal of Medical and Health Research
The lack of knowledge of cervical cancer and its risk factors have led to the late detection and poor prognosis of cervical cancer among women, especially in West Africa. This study seeks to assess the awareness, knowledge and the risk factors associated with cervical cancer among female Senior High School (SHS) students in the Tamale metropolis. A structured questionnaire was administered by the researchers to a total of 330 female students of four randomly selected SHSs in the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana. The questionnaire assessed students' knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer and its risk factors; it also gathered the demographic factors of the students. Approximately 79.1% (P<0.001) of the students had ever heard of cervical cancer, 31.7% had knowledge about the signs and symptoms of the condition and only 24.6% were aware of the risk factors of cervical cancer. Teachers were the major source of information about cervical cancer for these students. Approximately, 37.9% (P<0.001) of the respondents identified cervical cancer as a sexually transmitted infection. The majority (79.1%; P<0.001) of the respondents knew that cervical cancer was a preventable condition. A little over half of the students (53.9%) were aware of cervical cancer screening methods but only 2.4% (P<0.001) of the total respondents had ever been screened for cervical cancer. This study clearly shows the need to improve sexually active women's knowledge of cervical cancer risk factors, its signs and symptoms and preventive measures as well as how to assess available screening programme.
Journal of Scientific Research and Reports
Introduction: Cervical cancer is one of the significant public health problems in the world, especially in Less developed countries. In Ghana, cervical cancer is the leading cause of gynecological cancers. This study was aimed at assessing the level of awareness of this dreadful disease among adolescent female Senior High School students in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Methods: A cross-sectional study of female adolescents was conducted using self-administered questionnaires to elicit information on demographic characteristics, knowledge, awareness, and perception of cervical cancer. The association of demographic characteristics and other important study variables were investigated. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for questions asked. Logistic regression was used to make predictions. Findings: The mean age of participants was 16.6 years (± 1.6). Majority (63.0%) had heard about the disease. About one-third (30.2%) reported getting their information from Television/Radio with a relatively lower proportion (0.4%) getting their information from the internet. Some risk factors
2008
Cervical cancer is the second commonest cancer of females worldwide and the commonest cancer of the female genital tract in our environment. It can be prevented through early detection by cervical screening (Pap smear). The objective of this study is to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of cervical cancer screening among female undergraduates. A pre tested questionnaire was administered to third and fourth year female students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria. Out of the 220 students involved in the study, 134 (60.9) had knowledge of cervical cancer and 118 (53.6%) were sexually active with the average age at sexual debut being 21.2 years. The mean age of the students was 23.8 years and the age range was 17 to 39 years with 175 (80%) in the age range of 20-29 years. About 2/3 of the students did not know about Pap smear and worse still, none of them had undergone a Pap screening test before. This low participation in screening ...
European Journal of Health Sciences, 2021
Purpose: This study sought to determine the cervical cancer knowledge and screening among young female adults in Kintampo North Municipality. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was employed using a quantitative approach. Data was collected from 341 participants using a consecutive sampling with structured questionnaire and analysed using SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse continuous variables like age and expressed as means and standard deviations, whilst categorical variables were summarized into frequencies and percentages. Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to determine the associations between the independent and dependent variables. Findings: More than half (58%) of the respondents had knowledge of cervical cancer. The two major sources of cervical cancer knowledge to respondents were the health workers (45.6%) and radio/television/internet (45.1%). Most (70.5%) had no idea about the causes of cervical cancer. Again, more than half (55.5%) of the resp...
European Journal of Medical and Health Sciences, 2020
Background: Cervical cancer is one of the commonest cancers in women. It is the commonest cause of cancer related death in Africa. It is one of the cancers that have well known screening methods. In developed societies with standard protocol for screening, the morbidity and mortality following the disease have been greatly reduced. There is paucity of knowledge of cervical cancer and its screening methods in Yenagoa. Objectives: To determine the knowledge of cervical cancer and its screening methods in female students of a Tertiary educational institution. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study that was conducted amongst the female students of Federal University Otuoke. Information about their socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of cervical cancer and the screening methods was obtained using a questionnaire. Results: A total of four hundred and twenty four (424) female students of the Federal University Otuoke were enrolled for the study. The mean age of the ...
The study was a descriptive survey carried out to find out the awareness and prevention of cervical cancer among women in Bekwai Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The participants for the study comprise all women in their reproductive age of 15-49 years. A sample size of 380 was purposively selected for the study. Quota sampling technique was used to select the participants from four largest communities in Bekwai Municipality. Questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the data. It was found out that most women in Bekwai Municipality are not aware of the risk factors and symptoms associated with cervical cancer. The study revealed that a greater number of women in Bekwai Municipality in the Ashanti region have never gone for cervical cancer screening before. Though a greater number of the women have never gone for screening before, the findings show that most women believe that when cervical cancer is detected early, it can improve the chances of survival. In all, the study revealed that most women are of the view that cervical cancer can be prevented and the best ways to prevent cervical cancer is through HPV vaccination, public health education, use of condoms during sex and avoiding multiple sex partners. Based on the empirical findings, appropriate conclusion and recommendations for practice were offered.
MOJ Public Health, 2018
Background: Cancer of the cervix is the leading cause of cancer-related death next to breast cancer. Cervical cancer screening is a means for early detection and treatment of the problem before it advances to a later stage. However, cervical cancer screening rate is not satisfactory in many countries including Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude towards cervical cancer screening and associated factors among female Hawassa University College of Medicine and health sciences students. Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study conducted using simple random sampling technique from April1 st to 30 th 2016. Three hundred eighty female students participated in the study. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression used to describe each variable and to identify the presence of an association between independent variables with outcome variable respectively. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and p-value<0.05 used to determine the association. Result: A total of 380 participate in the study with the response rate of 90%. The majority, 202(53.2), of the respondents, belongs to the age group21-23 years old. Two hundred sixteen (56.8%) Knowledgeable and 210(55.3%) had a positive attitude toward cervical cancer screening. Age, year of study, school category, and income significantly associated with knowledge of cervical cancer screening. Age, year of study, religion, knowing Human papillomavirus as a cause for cervical cancer significantly associated with the attitude towards cervical cancer screening. Conclusion: Half of the respondents were Knowledgeable and had a positive attitude towards cervical cancer screening. Age, year of study, school category, and income identified as significantly associated factors for knowledge of cervical cancer screening. Age, year of study, religion, knowledge about Human papillomavirus are associated considerably with the attitude towards cervical cancer screening.
Background In the world, cervical cancer is an easily preventable disease and it is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality in females. It is the second most common women cancer in Ethiopia. The aim of the present study was to assess the KAP of undergraduate female students towards cervical cancer screening, prevention, and control. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2018 at the University of Gondar, College of Medicine and Health Sciences undergraduate female students. Pretested, self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Four hundred and three female students were recruited by a stratified random sampling method and the data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20 statistical packages. Descriptive data analysis was used to report the results. Results Most of the respondents (59.3.3%) had good knowledge, whereas nearly 67.7% of the respondents had a positive attitude towards cervical cancer. However, less than 1% of the responden...
Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Care
Background: Cervical cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed gynecological cancer affecting women worldwide. It is a preventable disease but still remains a leading cause of cancer deaths in developing countries like Nigeria despite the availability of preventive strategies. Undergraduate pharmacy and medical students are future health care providers who can help raise awareness and improve the knowledge of the public towards cervical cancer, its screening, prevention and treatment. The study sought to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practice of cervical cancer screening and prevention. Materials and methods: This is a cross sectional survey using questionnaire conducted in the University of Nigeria and Nnamdi Azikiwe University both in South-eastern Nigeria. Participants were conveniently sampled and the self-administered questionnaire was given to 335 consenting female pharmacy and medicine undergraduate students. Results: 335 out of the 350 undergraduate students approac...
2019
Cervical cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women in the developing World and is responsible for the largest cause of mortality in women accounting for 88% of deaths especially in low resource settings.The objective of the study was to determine the knowledge, risk factors and perception regarding cervical cancer among female senior secondary school students in Minna municipality. A cross sectional descriptive study was used. A questionnaire titled “knowledge, Risk factors and perception Regarding Cervical Cancer among female Senior Secondary School Students was administered to 420 female senior secondary school students using multi stage sampling techniques. The outcome variables were knowledge, risk factors and perception regarding cervical cancer. Data collected wasanalysed using SPSS version 22. Frequencies and proportion as well as chi-square were used to report the findings.The study results showed that level of awareness regarding cervical cancer was high (76....