PERCEPTION AND PRACTICES OF CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING AND PREVENTION AMONG FEMALE HEALTH WORKERS IN THE KORLE BU TEACHING HOSPITAL

ABSTRACT

Background: Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in Ghana and the leading cause of cancer mortality among women in Ghana. Health care professionals are important predictors of the use of cervical cancer screening, however, there is no evidence of how health workers use cervical cancer screening services.

General Objective: To assess the knowledge, perception and practices of cervical cancer screening and prevention among female doctors and nurses in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH).

Methods: The study employed a quantitative cross-sectional design in studying female doctors and nurses in the KBTH. Data was collected over a four week period from 387 female health workers in seven clinical departments through systematic sampling technique using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics of categorical variables were presented in frequencies and proportions while that of continuous variables were presented with means and standard deviations. Chi-square and Fishers’ exact tests were used to test for association between the categorical independent variables and various outcome variables. T-test and One-way ANOVA tests were also used to compare the average age of the respondents across the various levels of the outcome variables. Binary logistic as well as linear regression models were used to assess the strength of association between independent variables and dependent variables. Level of statistical significance was pegged at 5%.

Results: The knowledge level of majority (72%) of female doctors and nurses in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on cervical cancer and its screening and preventive methods was moderate. significantly higher proportion of doctors had high knowledge level than nurses (35.4% vs 5.1%, p< 0.001). The proportion of health workers with perception that cervical cancer screening is important for reducing risk of the disease was high (94%).

The multiple binary logistic regression models identified marital status, work profession, and department as the only statistically significant predictors of Preparedness to Educate Women on Cervical Cancer Screening(p