Knowledge and Screening Practices of Cervical Cancer among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic in Tertiary Hospitals in Enugu, South-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: The burden of cervical cancer is more in developing world where it is a major killer among reproductive age group. Available evidence suggests factors responsible for this escalating mortality among Nigerian women as lack of awareness and poor use of early detection measures. Materials and Methods: This study examined the knowledge and screening practices of cervical cancer among women attending antenatal clinics in tertiary hospitals in Enugu. The study utilized descriptive cross sectional design. A sample size of 250 pregnant women was proportionately selected from each study setting and convenience sampling used to select respondents for the study. Data was collected through researcher’s developed questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used for the analysis of data collected and chi-square statistics was utilized to test the hypotheses at significance level of 0.05. Results: There is poor knowledge of cervical cancer among pregnant women as only 8.1% knew that cervical cancer is caused by human papilloma virus and 39.5% identified pap smear as screening test. There is poor uptake of cervical cancer screening as only 2.8% had carried out screening test. Poor access to health education and invasion of patients’ privacy was the major factors that impaired the utilization of cervical cancer screening. There was no significance relationship between knowledge and practice of cervical cancer screening (P>0.24) and also between level of education and cervical cancer screening practices (P>0.14). Conclusion: It was recommended that health stakeholders should intensify health education to reawaken the women’s consciousness on the importance of cervical cancer screening practices.