Knowledge, Attitude and Practice toward Cervical Cancer and Cervical Cancer Screening and Its Associated Factors among Women in the City of Bamenda, Cameroon
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, 5 (4):
1490-1506 (June 2021)Abstract
BACKGROUND Invasive Cervical Cancer ICC has been identified as the second most common cause of morbidity and mortality compared to other cancers among women in Cameroon. Cervical cancer can be treated e ectively if diagnosed early. Effective methods for early detection of precancerous lesions using cytology, histopathology, VIA and VILI exist and have shown to be successful in high income countries. However, competing health care priorities, lack of information have made high coverage on cervical cancer screening in most low and middle income countries such as Cameroon difficult to achieve.AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice towards cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening as well as its associated factors among women in Hospitals based in the City of Bamenda MATERIALS AND METHODS A hospital based cross sectional study design was used and participants were selected using Random clustered sampling technique whereby each hospital was considered as a cluster. Sample size was calculated using Cochran formula of 1963. A Self administered questionnaire was used to assess knowledge, attitude and practice on cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening. Data collection took place for a period of 2 months from January, 2020 to February, 2020.RESULTS Four hospitals were randomly chosen by ballot out of seven hospitals currently carrying out cervical cancer screening in the North West region. A total of 370 participants were recruited. The mean age of the respondents was 41 years SD=13.9 .About half 186 50.3 of the respondents were experiencing ceased menstruation, the mean age for first sexual intercourse was 19.04 ± SD 3.19 years. A total of 162 43.8 of the women had adequate knowledge on cervical cancer.197 53.2 of the sampled women in Bamenda reported with positive attitudes towards cervical cancer. Only, 178 45.4 of the women in the city of Bamenda presented with a good practice about cervical cancer. Women aged 41 50 AOR=4.96 95 CI 2.22 11.07 p=0.000 , 51 60 AOR=3.71 95 CI 1.50 9.19 p=0.005 , and above 60years AOR=4.25 95 CI 1.54 11.76 p=0.005 were 4 times more likely to report with adequate knowledge on cervical cancer. Women working in the health sector AOR=7.52 95 CI 2.85 19.85 p=0.000 and students AOR=7.61 95 CI 3.19 18.14 p=0.000 were about 7 times more likely to report with adequate knowledge compared to their counterparts who were in the business sector AOR=3.62 95 CI 1.53 8.56 p=0.003 . The women who had ceased from having regular menses were about 2 times more likely to report with positive attitudes towards cervical cancer. Women who did not know if they had a family history of cervical cancer AOR=0.52 95 CI 0.27 0.99 p=0.047 were 5 times more likely to report a positive attitude towards cervical cancer. The women who were more than 60 years old AOR=20.89 95 CI 3.89 105.1 p=0.000 were 20 times more likely to report with good practice. Followed to that were women who were 51 to 60 years AOR=6.09 95 CI 1.74 23.43 p=0.005 who were 6 times more likely to report with good practice than their counterpart who were 21 to 30 years old.CONCLUSION This study showed that less than half of the population were knowledgeable about cervical cancer, about half of the population had a positive attitude towards cervical cancer, Less than half the number of participants presented with good practice.The correlation between participants’ knowledge, attitude and practice showed that there was a significant association which therefore provides sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis. The result obtained in this study indicates how useful it will be to establish health education programs to increase women’s awareness and knowledge about cervical cancer. Fongang Che Landis | Enow-Orock George | Njajou Omer | Ngowe Ngowe Marcelin "Knowledge, Attitude and Practice toward Cervical Cancer and Cervical Cancer Screening and Its Associated Factors among Women in the City of Bamenda, Cameroon" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-4 , June 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.compapers/ijtsrd43667.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.commedicine/other/43667/knowledge-attitude-and-practice-toward-cervical-cancer-and-cervical-cancer-screening-and-its-associated-factors-among-women-in-the-city-of-bamenda-cameroon/fongang-che-landis