Knowledge, willingness to support, and reasons for not supporting wives for cervical cancer screening in rural Dire Dawa administration, eastern Ethiopia: A qualitative study

Abstract

Background: Husbands’ support is an important factor in spouses’ decisions to utilize reproductive health care services, including screening. Despite this, it is still poorly understood in the study area. Therefore, this study was aimed at exploring it, and this may help to fill the gap via interventions related to screening. Methodology: A community-based phenomenological qualitative study was undertaken in the rural Dire Dawa administration, Ethiopia, from September 1 to October 30, 2022. Data was collected from purposively selected husbands via in-depth interviews using a semi-structured tool aided by a voice recorder and field notes. A thematic analysis done with an inductive approach goes through six steps: familiarization, coding, generating themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and writing up. Results: Thematically, three main themes and sixteen sub-themes were identified, and in general, one-third of the husbands had knowledge of cervical cancer; however, aside from signs and symptoms, they lacked knowledge of the cause, risk factors, transmission, complications, cervical cancer treatment, screening, and other prevention methods. They each have different perceived reasons for not supporting their wives' screening. Conclusion: Husbands lack knowledge of cervical cancer and their perceptions of the disease and screening are negative, and this is explored as being a major barrier to supporting wives’ cervical cancer screening. Therefore, it is recommended that information regarding cervical cancer and screening be disseminated not only to women but also to men, as well as conducting additional community-based research.