Assessment of the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Cervical Cancer Screening among Students at Ambrose Alli University in Southern Nigeria

Background: Cervical cancer is a malignant condition affecting the cervix, with an average onset age of 45 years. It is the second most common cancer among women globally as in 2012, over 550,000 new cases of cervical cancer were diagnosed worldwide; of these, a large majority, about 85% occurred in less developed regions yet it is highly preventable if the premalignant stage is discovered through early routine screening.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of cervical cancer screening among Ambrose Alli University student, Ekpoma, Edo state.

Methodology: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 326 female students of Ambrose Alli University using semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire and multistage sampling technique was employed which helped to ensure flexibility of the study. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23.0 software for descriptive statistics.

Results: All respondents were female and it was observed that, 24.8% of respondents had good knowledge, 28.2% had fair knowledge, while 46.9% of respondents had poor knowledge. Knowledge increased with increasing age with highest knowledge (63.6%) among 29 -31 years age group. Knowledge also increased as observed in those in the higher university class. The attitude of the participants toward cervical cancer screening was poor. It was seen that 18.7% had positive attitude toward cervical cancer screening. Half of the respondents who had good knowledge also had good attitude toward cervical cancer screening. The practice of screening exercise by respondents was also found to be poor as 1.5% of the respondents had ever done Pap smear at least once in the past.

Conclusion: From this study, the knowledge, attitude and practice of cervical cancer screening among students of Ambrose Alli University were low which can have a negative impact in the general public on the long run as these girls can come down with cervical cancer and its complications.