Awareness and Attitude Regarding Cervical Cancer Screening among Reproductive Age Women

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is preventable so awareness can be as effective as any other method to prevent it.The study aims to assess awareness and attitude regarding cervical cancer screening among reproductive age women in a tertiary level hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.
 Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among 170 reproductive age women attending Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital using purposive sampling technique. A semi structured interview schedule was used to collect data via face to face interview. Data was summarized using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with awareness and attitude.
 Results: Among 170 reproductive age women, mean age was 31.49 ± 8.70 years. Majority 151 (88.8%) of the women had heard of cervical cancer while 119 (70%) of them had heard about cervical cancer screening. Among them, only 17 (11.3%) had adequate awareness regarding cervical cancer screening. Seventy five (46.6%) of the women had positive attitude towards cervical cancer screening. Employment status [95% CI (0.01-0.38), AOR=0.06, p=0.003] was associated with awareness whereas, ethnicity, employment status and marital status were associated with attitude.
 Conclusions: Most of the women were unaware about the cervical cancer screening but nearly half of the respondents had positive attitude. Therefore it is very crucial to provide health education and awareness through supervised client education. Focused group discussion as an effective approach of awareness program can be conducted in order to include specific group such as unemployed and unmarried women.
 Keywords: Attitude; awareness; cervical cancer; reproductive age women; screening

Knowledge, awareness, attitudes and screening practices towards breast and cervical cancer among women in Nepal: a scoping review

“…All studies were published between 2001 and 2021, and nearly half (45%) within the last 5 years. Twenty-seven (71%) studies focused on CC (Baral et al 2020;Bhatta et al 2020;Darj et al 2019;Ghimire and Pathak 2020;Andersen et al 2020;Gyenwali et al 2013;Johnson et al 2014;Joy et al 2011;Khadka et al 2017;Maharjan et al 2020;Pandey and Karmacharya 2017;Poudel and Sumi 2019;Rachana and Giri 2019;Ranabhat et al 2014;Ranjit et al 2016;Satyal 2013;Shakya et al 2016;Sherpa 2007;Sherpa et al 2020;Shrestha et al 2013;Shrestha 2014;Shrestha and Dhakal 2017;Shrestha et al 2020;Shrestha et al 2021a;Thapa 2018;Thapa et al 2018;). Ten studies (26%) concerned BC (Bhandari et al 2016;Bhandari et al 2021;Bhatt et al 2011;Braun and Itano 2011;Gupta et al 2015;Narasingrao et al 2013;Parajuli and Mandal 2010;Sathian et al 2014;Shrestha 2012;).…”

“…The majority of studies used researcher-or clinician-administered (semi-)structured surveys (n = 25, 66%) in face-to-face interviews, or self-administered surveys (n = 8, 21%). Ten studies reported knowledge or awareness scores, predominantly focusing on CC (Bhatt et al 2011;Baral et al 2020;Darj et al 2019;Ghimire and Pathak 2020;Khadka et al 2017;Poudel and Sumi 2019;Rachana and Giri 2019;Shrestha et al 2013;Shah et al 2010;Shrestha and Dhakal 2017). A review of medical records was carried out in one study (Shrestha 2014), and two studies offered women a Papanicolaou or Pap smear test (Ranabhat et al 2014;Sherpa 2007).…”

“…Some studies found that women had adequate CCS knowledge, for example that CCS is a way of preventing cancer by detecting cancers or abnormalities that could lead to cancer. The lowest level (11%) was found by Baral et al (2020) in a study of 170 hospital outpatients and visitors from an urban area. A study of 96 gynaecological outpatients found that the only factor significantly associated with level of CCS knowledge was education (Shrestha and Dhakal 2017), which was confirmed in two other studies (Khadka et al 2017;Thapa 2018).…”

“…Positive attitudes towards CCS among women ranged from 10% (Shrestha and Dhakal 2017) to 72% (Thapa et al 2018). Factors associated with favourable attitudes identified by Baral et al (2020) were ethnicity, employment and marital status. Shah et al (2010) reported that positive attitudes towards CCS were related to higher knowledge of risk factors and screening modalities.…”

“…Eight studies reported on attitudes towards CCS (Baral et al 2020;Ranabhat et al 2014;Shah et al 2010;Shakya et al 2016;Shrestha et al 2013;Shrestha 2014;Shrestha and Dhakal 2017;Thapa et al 2018). Positive attitudes towards CCS among women ranged from 10% (Shrestha and Dhakal 2017) to 72% (Thapa et al 2018).…”