Knowledge of Cervical Cancer and Its Risk Factors, Attitudes and Practices towards Pap Smear Screening among Students in the University of Buea, Cameroon

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer of the cervix is the second most common gynaecological malignancy and the leading cause of cancer mortality among women in Cameroon. Knowledge and attitudes toward cervical cancer screening depend largely on gender and educational level. The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge of cervical cancer and the attitudes and practices towards Pap smear screening among male and female university students. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that involved 416 students, carried-out from February to May 2017 among students of the University of Buea, Cameroon. Data was collected using a pretested questionnaire and analysed using Epi-Info version 7. Statistical significance was set at P-value <0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 22.08 (± 4.03) years. Up to 82.2% of participants had heard about cervical cancer. Only 25.2% of participants had “good” knowledge of cervical cancer. There was no statistically significant difference in the overall knowledge between gender (P=0.81); however, there was an association between having “good” knowledge and being a health science student (P<0.001). About two-thirds of the students knew that having multiple sexual partners was a risk factor of cervical cancer, while more than 50%, could not identify early sexual intercourse, smoking, family history, and multiple deliveries as risk factors. Only 4.8% of the female students had had a Pap smear. The low uptake was attributed to barriers: the cost of screening, lack of information on screening programs, fear, and beliefs that pap smear screening is painful. Conclusions:  Knowledge of cervical cancer among university students was poor without a gender difference. Uptake of Pap smear screening was very low. We, therefore, recommend more health education and prevention programs targeting male and female students.