Status and influencing factors of knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to screening for breast and cervical cancer among rural women aged 40–65 years in China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objectives The objectives are to investigate the status of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) and to identify factors related to KAP towards breast and cervical cancer screening among rural Chinese women aged 40–65 years.Design and setting This cross-sectional study was conducted from July to September 2020 in rural areas of eastern China.Participants This study involved 301 rural women aged 40–65 years.Variables and outcomes The questionnaire included demographic information and the KAP related to breast and cervical cancer screening. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used for the multifactor analysis.Results A total of 301 rural women aged 40–65 years participated in the survey. The overall score of KAP was (62.41±11.24), and the scores of each KAP domain relating to screening for breast and cervical cancer among participants in rural areas were (1.82±0.97), (44.52±7.20) and (16.06±4.56), respectively. The following factors were significantly associated with the total KAP Score relating to breast and cervical cancer screening among rural women aged 40–65 years, explaining 35% of the variance (p<0.001): aged 50–54 (β=−0.160, 95% CI −7.403 to −0.794), aged 55–59 (β=−0.266, 95% CI −10.763 to −3.757), aged 60–65 (β=−0.243, 95% CI −12.504 to −4.331), junior high school (β=0.186, 95% CI 1.287 to 7.064), housewife (β=0.172, 95% CI 0.849 to 6.868), other work (β=0.171, 95% CI 3.818 to 15.044), annual household income ranging from 50 000 to 79 999 (β=0.281, 95% CI 3.887 to 10.458) and annual household income≥80 000 (β=0.330, 95% CI 4.735 to 11.554).Conclusions The status of KAP related to breast and cervical cancer screening still requires improvement. Measures to enhance the participation of the two-cancer screening should be provided to rural women aged between 50 and 65 years with lower education level and lower annual household income, especially women who are farmers.