Knowledge, Attitude and Practices about Cervical Cancer and Screening among Nurses of a Tertiary Care Centre in Western India

Abstract

Introduction: Nurses play a crucial role of enlightening commu- nity about need and availability of screening test so it is important to explore the knowledge, attitude and practices of nurses about cervical cancer and screening. Methodology: A pretested semi structured questionnaire used to carry out the study among nurses of a tertiary care centre in West- ern India. Observations: Out of total 103 nurses, 90.3% were married with mean age was 34 years. Majority (98%) were aware about cervical cancer while 73.8% agreed that it could be prevented. Major symp- toms of cervical cancer recognized were irregular bleeding (31.7%) & foul smelling vaginal discharge (34.2%). Nursing academic study (51.3%) was the leading source of all information. Risk fac- tors identified were Human Papilloma Virus (15.6%) and poor personal hygine (14.7%). As many as 62% nurses felt that they were not at risk of cervical cancer. Only 3.9% had received HPV vaccine. Conclusions: This study highlights major Knowledge, Attitude, Practice gap among nursing staff regarding cervical cancer.

Keywords

• KAP
• Nurses
• Cervical Cancer
• Cervical Cancer, PAP Smear