Knowledge, attitude, practice, and self-efficacy of women regarding cervical cancer screening

Abstract

Objective Iran has a low incidence of cervical cancer (CC). The country is introducing an organized screening system, including human papillomavirus screening. Studies show a high dropout rate among eligible women in continuing testing. Methods This descriptive-analytic study was part of the first phase of a clinical trial conducted on a random sample of 400 women aged 18–49 in Andimeshk City, Khuzestan Province, in 2020. The data collection tool consisted of a man-made questionnaire that included domains of demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, practice, and self-efficacy in the Pap smear test. The data were analyzed with Stata-16 using linear and logistic regression models. Results The mean knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy scores were 6.80±2.33, 34.99±4.32, and 28.67±7.34, respectively. In the multiple models, every unit increase in the knowledge or attitude scores raised the mean self-efficacy score by 1.04 and 0.48, respectively ( P <0.001). Every unit increase in the knowledge and self-efficacy scores increased the chance of performing Pap smear 1.61 and 1.41 times, respectively ( P <0.001). Conclusion Given the association of women’s knowledge and self-efficacy with practice in performing the Pap smear, it seems that an effective program promoting women’s health behavior regarding CC screening would include applied education to raise community awareness and improve women’s attitudes, self-efficacy, and practice.

A Blended Educational Intervention Program On Pap-Test Related Behavior Among Iranian Women

“…Participants in this study were women aged 18-49 attending comprehensive health service centers in Andimeshk and were strati ed randomly. Inclusion and exclusion criteria included women of reproductive age (who had been married at least once, regardless of their current marital status), residents of Andimeshk, literate, 18 to 49-years-old, with poor and average knowledge mean scores [10].…”

“…Each of the centers was considered a class through strati ed random sampling. 84 of those whose total knowledge score (based on the descriptive phase of the study) [10] was poor and/or average (poor: 0 to 4, average: 4 to 8, good: 8 to 13) were selected. Women possessing the inclusion criteria who had active pro les in the health centers were contacted.…”

“…Many studies in Iran have reported the low participation rate of this test. For example, this rate has been reported at 27.1% in Babazadeh et al's study [8], 50% in Farzaneh et al's study [9], and 58.6% in Ghalavandi et al's research in Andimeshk city [10].…”

“…In other words, earlier literature indicates that improving the educational status not only increases pap smear knowledge, but is also associated with women's attitude and self-e cacy regarding PST [15,16]. Moreover, by strengthening positive attitude and raising self-e cacy in women, the intention to perform the PST is also reinforced [10,17,18]. The individual must also have perceived self-e cacy to perform the PST, i.e., she should believe that she will be able to routinely perform the PST [14,15].…”

A blended educational intervention program on Pap-test related behavior among Iranian women

“…In other words, earlier literature indicates that improving the educational status not only increases pap smear knowledge, but is also associated with women’s attitude and self-efficacy regarding PST [ 15 , 16 ]. Moreover, by strengthening positive attitude and raising self-efficacy in women, the intention to perform the PST is also reinforced [ 10 , 17 , 18 ]. The individual must also have perceived self-efficacy to perform the PST, i.e., she should believe that she will be able to routinely perform the PST [ 14 , 15 ].…”