scholarly journals Knowledge, attitude and practice towards cervical cancer screening and human papilloma virus vaccine at a tertiary care facility in North India

Author(s):  
Devyani Misra ◽  
Charu Mahajan ◽  
Bhumika Bansal

Background: Cervical cancer continues to be a major health care problem and most common cause of cancer deaths. Many screening methods are available to detect the disease in precancerous stage. Cervical cancer is the only cancer that is preventable with HPV vaccine against the causative agent responsible for this condition. Knowledge and attitude of women determine the likelihood of women undergoing screening procedures and HPV vaccination which will have implications for the future generations. This study was conducted to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of women towards cervical screening and HPV vaccine.Methods: This is a facility based observational cross-sectional study conducted at Dr. RMLIMS, Lucknow, over a period of 3 months - January 2019 to March 2019. Women attending gynecology OPD were enrolled after verbally consenting for the study and were required to fill a pre-structured questionnaire which was then analyzed and assessed.Results: A total of 368 participants answered the questionnaire. Overall, 154 subjects (41.8%) had adequate knowledge regarding cervical carcinoma risk factors, symptoms, screening for cancer and HPV vaccine. Favorable attitude was seen in 315 (85.5%) participants. Ninety-six participants (26.0%) had ever had a cervical cancer screening and 23 participants (6.2%) had ever received HPV vaccine which was very low. Lack of knowledge and cost factors were the main reasons cited for these low screening and vaccination rates among the participants.Conclusions: The study shows that knowledge was inadequate and screening and vaccination rates were very low in the study population. This highlights the need to educate the community regarding cervical cancer prevention and to make these services readily available at affordable costs to achieve the ultimate goal of elimination of cervical cancer.

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astha Srivastava ◽  
Bindiya Gupta ◽  
Vikas Lakha ◽  
Shilpa Singh

Objective: To study the knowledge, attitude and practice of nurses at tertiary centre regarding cervical cancer screening. Material and Methods: Validated questionnaire was circulated amongst staff nurses at tertiary care centre after taking informed consent. Results and Discussion: Cancer of cervix is the most common genital tract malignancy in female and it is ranked second to breast cancer. It has a positive association with HPV infection. Cervical cancer incidence and mortality have declined substantially following introduction of screening programmes. This present study investigated the knowledge, attitude and practice of nurses at GTB Hospital towards cervical cancer risk factors, sign & symptoms and screening as they are important health professionals. In our study, the results showed that 99% of respondents were aware of Pap smear as screening programme and about 60-70% were aware of HPV as positive organism, but most of them never had a Pap smear done before. Majority of them did not know VIA, VILI and colposcopy as screening techniques. Conclusion: It may thus be recommended that institutions should periodically organize seminars and training for health personnel especially the nurses which form a group of professionals that should give health education to women about cervical cancer.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Olita Shilpakar ◽  
Ramesh Prasad Aacharya ◽  
Ram Prasad Neupane ◽  
Bipin Karki

Introduction: Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers among women worldwide. It is preventable by early detection of precancerous lesions by various screening techniques. Considering the importance of the perceptions and practices of the women about the disease and its screening, this study was conducted with an aim to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of women towards cervical cancer and its screening among Nepalese women visiting a tertiary care institute in Kathmandu. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 390 outpatients in the gynaecological outpatient department of Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital for a span of six months. Data were collected after obtaining ethical clearance from the institutional review board. A structured questionnaire covering the socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge, attitude and practice on cervical cancer and its screening was used. Results: Among the 390 women who were interviewed, the mean age was 41.9 years, 37% of the respondents had an average knowledge and 16.5% had a good knowledge about cervical cancer and its screening. There was a positive attitude among 70% of the respondents, however the uptake of screening among them was less than 25% only. Embarrassment (72%), pain (71%) and lack of privacy (65.9%) were the main barriers of screening. Conclusions: Knowledge regarding cervical cancer screening was found to be good and the attitude to undergo screening was positive. However, a significant number of barriers refrain women from seeking this service which is shown by the poor practice for screening.


Author(s):  
Pooja K. Bandekar ◽  
Prashant B. Kale

Background: Carcinoma cervix is the second most common cancer of women all over the world and commonest cancer among Indian women. Awareness about cervical cancer and its prevention low amongst Indian women. The Pap test is a simple cost-effective technique for screening to help early diagnosis of cervical cancer. Nursing staff should be made aware of cervical cancer, so that they can spread the knowledge to the general public. Objectives of present study were to assess the knowledge level regarding symptoms, risk factors, prevention and screening of cervical carcinoma among nursing staff and to find out the behaviour of respondents regarding prevention and screening of cervical carcinomaMethods: A cross-sectional interview-based survey regarding knowledge of cervical carcinoma was conducted among the nursing staff of a tertiary care institutes of Mumbai.A structured questionnaire with multiple choices was used as a tool for data collection. Provision for open-ended responses was also made in the questionnaire. 100 nurses participated in the current study. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel. SPSS statistical software was used to generate statistical parameters like proportion, mean, standard deviation, etc. The test of significance used was the Z test and a P value of <0.05 was considered as the level of significance.Results: We lack an organized opportunistic screening program for cervical cancer in India. Data indicates a slow, but steady, decline in the incidence of cervical cancer. However, the rates are still too high, particularly in the rural areas. It is extremely essential to screen eligible women when they come to health units for other services. Studies have shown it is possible to train nurses to screen for cervical cancer. Attitudes that screening is to be done by doctors or gynaecologists only needs to change. The survey revealed that the hospital played a limited role as a source of information on Pap smear. This calls for a re-orientation of nurses, paramedicals and health workers and a need for introduction of simpler cervical cancer screening methods such as visual inspections that are more sustainableConclusions: Awareness about cervical cancer has to be improved. Education of the nursing personel will strongly contribute to strengthen cervical cancer screening programs. Nursing staff can and should educate the masses to help increase health awareness in women.


2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giannoula D. Bakogianni ◽  
Spiridoula C. Goutsou ◽  
Maria V. Liti ◽  
Sophia I. Rizopoulou ◽  
Konstantinos M. Nikolakopoulos ◽  
...  

Abstract Cervical cancer is a major cause of death in the developing world. The Papanicolaou (Pap) smear is a screening test that detects abnormal cells before they advance to cancer. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of cervical cancer screening among Greek students. A sample of 472 female students participated in the present study. Interviews were performed using a structured questionnaire. Of the participants, 94.07% were aware of the Pap test and 67.34% reported that the Pap test should be done yearly. The majority of them were informed about cervical cancer screening test by their parents. Of the participants, 44.82% had received Pap testing at least once in their life, whereas 36.2% had a Pap test yearly. The reported mean time of the respondents’ first Pap test was 13.3±10.6 months after their first sexual intercourse. The reasons given by the participants for being noncompliant were lack of appreciation of the importance of the screening, embarrassment, fear, and high cost. Of the participants, 9.23% declared that those who had been administered the human papillomavirus vaccine do not need a Pap test. The results highlight the need for additional education and health promotion regarding cervical cancer screening.


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