KNOWLEDGE, PERCEPTION, PATTERN OF UTILISATION AND PREFERENCES RELATING TO THE ADOPTION OF CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING AMONG FEMALE POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

Abstract

Cervical Cancer (CC) is the commonest female genital tract cancer worldwide and one of the leading causes of death from cancer among women in developing countries. It develops mostly when one is infected with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Screening for CC has been shown to reduce the morbidity and mortality from CC, yet its uptake is low. Many women lack adequate knowledge about CC including its risk, symptoms and prevention. Studies have been carried out investigating several barriers that influence the uptake of Cervical Cancer Screening (CCS) among various populations. Yet the knowledge of post graduate students on CC, their screening practices, future intention to screen and their perspective regarding preferences for the delivery of CCS have not been well explored thus limiting the opportunity to plan appropriate educational and service interventions targeted at them. This study was designed to investigate the knowledge, perception, pattern of utilization and preferences relating to the adoption of cervical screening among female postgraduate students of university of Ibadan. The study was a descriptive cross- sectional survey involving the use of multi-stage sampling technique to recruit 372 female postgraduate students in the hall of residence. A pretested semi structured, self-administered questionnaire with a 33-point scale knowledge scale was used for data collection. The CC and CCS knowledge scores 0-11, 12-23, 24-33 were categorized as poor, fair and good respectively. Descriptive statistics, Independent T-test and one-way ANOVA was used for data analysis at p = 0.05. Majority (72%) of the respondents had poor knowledge on CC and CCS. Knowledge of CC and CCS was significantly associated with age, marital status and post graduate level. Only 12.4% were of the view that CC occurs in people who are sexually active while just above half (50.5%) of the respondents said that the benefits of CCS outweigh the stress of the screening procedure. Only 4.0% of the respondents have been screened for CC. Majority (86.3%) expressed their desire to be screened for CC if given the opportunity. Female doctors (73.2%) topped the list of health professionals respondents preferred to conduct the CCS. Reasons mentioned for choosing female doctors and nurses were for comfortability, confidentiality and religious reasons. Majority (70.7%) of the respondents preferred CCS service delivery done during antenatal clinic visit. This was followed by

65.9% who preferred “walk-in clinics in the hostel while 64.2% preferred the conduct of CCS services by religious bodies. Majority (68.8%) would go for CCS if they had good knowledge of what it entails. The study shows poor knowledge on CC and CCS among female post graduate students and high willingness to utilize CCS services, thus the need for increased educational activities on CC and CCS and location specific screening programmes targeting postgraduate women in the University as this will significantly improve its level of uptake.