Knowledge and practice towards Cervical Cancer prevention, and its associated factors among female students of Mizan-Tepi University, southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is preventable and, most often curable, if identified earlier. Young women, including university students, should be aware of and implement cervical cancer prevention methods. However, limited studies were done about knowledge and practices of cervical cancer prevention among the female population of Ethiopia particularly in the study setting. Thus, this study was aimed to assess the knowledge and practice towards cervical cancer prevention and associated factors.

 Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among female students of Mizan-Tepi University, southwest Ethiopia from January to February 2020. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select a total of 715 samples. Data was collected using a pretested self-administered questionnaire. Binary and multivariable logistic regression was conducted to identify associated factors of knowledge and practice towards cervical cancer prevention. The strength of association was determined by Adjusted Odd Ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) and statistically significant variables were identified based on P-value < 0.05.

Result: Data was collected from 665 female students with a 93% response rate. Among the respondents, 31.4% of study participants had good knowledge and 13.5% had a good practice towards cervical cancer prevention. The college where students were studying (AOR = 34.91; 95% CI = 21.03-57.96) and previous history of cervical cancer screening (AOR = 3.49; 95% CI = 1.52-8.01) were predictors of good knowledge. Knowledge of how HPV infection is acquired (AOR =3.68; 95% CI = 1.60-8.47), age of screening (AOR = 0.07; 95% CI = 0.01-0.34) and frequency of screening (AOR = 2.63; 95% CI = 1.03-6.70) were found factors associated with good practice.

Conclusion: Most study participants had poor knowledge and practice towards cervical cancer prevention. Colleges, previous cervical cancer screening experience were found to be associated with student’s knowledge. Knowing how HPV infection is acquired and knowing the age and frequency of cervical cancer screening were found predictors of overall cervical cancer prevention practice.

Keywords: Cervical cancer prevention, Female students, Knowledge, Mizan Tepi University, Practice