A survey investigating university students’ knowledge, attitudes, and barriers to cervical screening test.

Abstract

Background: Globally, cervical cancer has been deemed a public health concern as it is the fourth most common malignancy among women. In the United Kingdom, cervical cancer is the fourteenth most common cancer among women. The only preventive tool that can identify cervical cancer in its precancerous stage, when preventive actions can be taken, is cervical cancer screening (CCS). Numerous studies have examined the awareness, attitudes, and barriers to the adoption of CCS between different groups. However, this subject has not been studied among female students at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the majority of whom fall within the CCS eligibility age range. This study aimed to explore LJMU female students’ knowledge of CCS, their attitudes towards CCS, and the factors that affect CCS uptake.

Method: The study was approved by Liverpool John Moore Ethics Committee. An online survey with binary closed ended questions were utilised as a quantitative method, and its design was guided by four validated questionnaires. The questionnaire was made available to websites connected to the institution for anonymous responses. The questionnaire examined the participants’ basic demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and barriers to the uptake of CCS. The study’s data was analysed using SPSS.

Results: The study recruited 92 participants and they exhibited good overall awareness of CCS as 67% have heard of CCS, but they had inadequate specific knowledge of CCS guidelines. Approximately 72% of the participants in the survey had a favourable view toward CCS. The uptake of CCS was poor as only 40 % of research respondents had participated in CCS, however 80% of those who had been screened reported a positive experience. Barriers to CCS uptake among study participants include embarrassment (62%), fear of pain (54%), fear of cervical cancer diagnosis (64%), and no health education on CCS (43%).

Conclusion: The study indicates that LJMU female students need health education on CCS because there is a low uptake of cervical cancer screening tests.