Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Toward Cervical Cancer Screening and Associated Factors Among College and University Female Students in Dire Dawa City, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: Cervical cancer is preventable and, in most cases, curable if identified at an early stage. Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality Ethiopia with screening accounting for only 0.8%. Furthermore, female students and young adults in colleges and universities’ have a high prevalence of genital HPV infection because of their risky sexual behavior, lack of knowledge on screening and very few students receive screening services. This study aimed to assess the Knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward cervical cancer screening and its associated factors among female college students in Dire Dawa City, Ethiopia. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted using a multistage sampling technique from November to December 2020, among 730 female college students in Dire Dawa. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to describe each variable and identify associations between the dependent and independent variables respectively. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and P-value <.05 used to determine the association. Results: The results showed, only 64 (9.3%) participants were knowledgeable, 413 (60.1%) had positive attitudes and 17 (2.5%) were screened in their lifetime. Age group, years of study, and history of cervical cancer practice were significantly associated with knowledge of cervical cancer screening. The year of study was based on cervical cancer smears and the number of screenings was significantly associated with attitude. Conclusion: This study showed that students’ knowledge of cervical cancer screening is low. Overall attitudes toward cervical cancer screening among female students were good, but only a small proportion of students had undergone cervical cancer screening. The most common reasons for the low screening practice were lack of information and undecided. There is a need to promote different campaigns for cervical cancer screening programs, in order to increase awareness.