CERVICAL CANCER AWARENESS, SCREENING AND VACCINATION AMONG FEMALE NURSING STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

Background: Cervical cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries despite been largely preventable. Late detection as a result of lack of awareness and access to care including non-availability of comprehensive care centres, lack of mass screening programs compounded by financial constraints, continue to keep the numbers high. This study looked at the level of awareness and practices of female nursing students of University of Ghana on cervical cancer, screening and vaccination.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study among 258 female nursing students of University of Ghana using self-administered questionnaire via Google forms. Besides sociodemographic data, general and specific knowledge on cervical cancer as well as screening and vaccination uptake data was collected. Results analysed with SPSS version 26. Means and standard deviations were used for continuous data and chi square for categorical data. A p-value of less than or equal to 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Results: The knowledge level was fair among 73.6% of the respondents. The prevalence rate of cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination was 19.0% and 6.2% respectively. Common reasons given for non-screening and non-vaccination were limited information on cervical cancer including unawareness of vaccine, not been sexually active and high cost of vaccine. There was significant association between screening uptake and vaccination uptake, though no association between knowledge and both screening and vaccination uptake.

Conclusion: The knowledge level on cervical cancer was fair among female nursing students, however the prevalence of screening and vaccination were very low.