Even though the majority of the participants thought it is important to carry out premarital screening; only half favored making it obligatory before marriage and one third favored making laws and regulations to prevent marriage in case of positive results. This reflects the importance of health education as a keystone in improving knowledge and attitude towards premarital screening program.

Background: This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding cervical cancer, cervical cancer screening, and Papanicolaou (Pap) smear testing among Omani women attending primary healthcare centers in Oman, and to establish a correlation with various sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: A multi-center crosssectional survey was carried out from August 2019 to January 2020 and included 805 women attending 18 primary healthcare centers. A pre-tested questionnaire was utilized to assess the participants' sociodemographic characteristics, cervical cancer risk factors, knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to cervical cancer, cervical cancer screening, and Pap smear testing. Results: All 805 women participated in the study (response rate: 100%). Overall, 67.5% and 50.9% had heard of cervical cancer and Pap smear testing, respectively; however, only 13.4% and 10.9% demonstrated high levels of knowledge concerning these topics. Knowledge was significantly associated with educational level, type of educational qualification (i.e. if their degree was related to healthcare), monthly income, and employment status (p ≤ 0.05 each). Only 15.7% of the participants had previously undergone Pap smear testing, although 42.7% were willing to undertake such screening in future. No associations were noted between Pap smear practice or willingness and sociodemographic characteristics, family history of cervical cancer or personal history of cervical cancer or related risk factors. Conclusions: Knowledge regarding cervical cancer and Pap smear testing was suboptimal among a cohort of Omani women attending primary healthcare centers in Oman. This may be a factor behind the increased number of cervical cancer cases in Oman; as such, a well-structured awareness and educational program is needed to address this issue.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and screening practices related to cervical cancer and Papanicolaou (Pap) smear testing among Omani women who were visitors to a family medicine and public health (FMPH) clinic. A secondary aim was to correlate the above with the subjects’ sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from February 2020 to April 2021 at the FMPH Clinic of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat. A self-administered questionnaire assessed the participants’ sociodemographic characteristics, cervical cancer-related risk factors, and their knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to cervical cancer, cervical cancer screening, and Pap smear testing. Results: The participants were 285 Omani women. The vast majority (256/285; 89.8%) had heard about cervical cancer and 208/285 (73.0%) about Pap smear testing. Only 32/285 (11.2%) and 179/285 (62.8%) demonstrated high levels of knowledge in the respective topics. Cervical cancer knowledge scores were associated with education level (p =0.039), whether the qualification was related to healthcare (p < 0.001), and the nature of employment (p =0.033). Pap smear knowledge scores were also associated with age (p =0.001), education level (p < 0.001), whether the qualification was related to healthcare (p < 0.001), the nature of employment (p =0.001), and number of children (p =0.001). Most women were aware of the availability of Pap smear testing in Oman (206/285; 72.3%) and 114/285 (40.0%) had previously undergone this test. Among those who had never undertaken Pap smear testing (171/285; 60.0%), many were willing to do so in the future (103/171; 60.2%). Conclusions: Our results provide an increased understanding of Omani women’s level of perceptions, attitudes, and screening practices related to cervical cancer. These findings will help develop strategies to improve Omani women’s knowledge of cervical cancer symptoms and screening facilities and promote optimum utilization of the available screening services.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding cervical cancer and Human papilloma virus (HPV) among Omani women aged 18 years and older. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted between September 2019 and February 2020 in primary health care facilities throughout Oman. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding cervical cancer and HPV. Results: A total of 805 women participated in the study (response rate: 89%). Two thirds of the participants had heard about cervical cancer (67%) while fewer were aware of HPV (15.8%). Around one third of the women identified HPV as a risk factor for developing cervical cancer (38.9%). Very few participants had knowledge of HPV vaccines (10.1%). Major source of information regarding both cervical cancer and HPV was social media (33.0%), as compared to 16.9% who got the information from healthcare providers. Despite the poor knowledge, almost half of the participants were open to vaccinating schoolgirls (41.2%) and even their daughters (47.0%) Conclusion: Most of the participants had poor knowledge regarding cervical cancer and HPV; even those with a personal or family history of cervical cancer. Main source of knowledge was social media. Majority were open to the idea of offering the HPV vaccine to middle school-aged girls and even their daughters. Proper incorporation into school curricula and improving access to trusted medical knowledge to the public in the social media may help in enriching the public’s knowledge, and possibly, correct misinformation and myths regarding cervical cancer and HPV. Keywords: Papillomavirus Vaccines; Cervical Cancer, Surveys and Questionnaires; Risk Factors; Community-Institutional Relations; knowledge; attitude; practice; Oman

Background: There is little research available regarding the psychological effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on antenatal and postnatal women in the Middle East. This study aimed to evaluate the burden of the pandemic on the mental health of pregnant and postpartum women in Oman. Methods:A cross-sectional study was carried out from July to December 2020 at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Muscat, Oman. A previously validated Arabic version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale was distributed to eligible participants via text message.Results: A total of 148 women completed the questionnaire (response rate: 12.8%). Of these, 35 participants (23.6%) reported symptoms of stress, ranging in severity from mild (n = 13, 8.8%) to extremely severe (n = 4, 2.7%); and 44 women (29.7%) reported some level of anxiety, most usually of moderate severity (n = 15, 10.1%). In addition, 46 women (31.1%) reported symptoms of depression, with 16 women (10.8%) having severe or extremely severe depression. Various factors were significantly associated with anxiety and depression levels, including lack of social support due to quarantine restrictions, the presence of an elderly individual at home, and the effect of the pandemic on monthly income (P < 0.05).Conclusions: These findings underscore the importance of finances, family, and social support on the psychological wellbeing of pregnant and postpartum Omani women during this pandemic. In future, healthcare providers should implement awareness campaigns and educational programs to provide additional support to this population group during similar health crises.