Table 2.
Knowledge and attitudes towards cervical cancer stratified by education level among women who have ever heard about cervical cancer in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, (N = 786)
| Total (N = 786) |
No formal education (N = 177) |
Primary/ Secondary (N = 385) |
University (N = 224) |
P value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||||||
| Place where ever heard about CC* | |||||||||
| In an hospital | 114 | (14.5) | 15 | (8.5) | 58 | (15.1) | 41 | (18.3) | 0.021 |
| Heard about CC* in the media | 481 | (61.2) | 103 | (58.2) | 236 | (61.3) | 142 | (63.4) | 0.378 |
| Heard about CC* during campaigns | 57 | (7.3) | 10 | (5.7) | 28 | (7.3) | 19 | (8.5) | 0.575 |
| Heard about CC* through relativesμ | 163 | (20.7) | 53 | (29.9) | 73 | (19.0) | 37 | (16.5) | 0.007 |
| Clarity of received CC* information | |||||||||
| Not clear / I did not understand | 672 | (85.5) | 163 | (92.1) | 338 | (87.8) | 171 | (76.3) | < 0.001 |
| Very Clear / I understand it | 114 | (14.5) | 14 | (7.9) | 47 | (12.2) | 53 | (23.7) | |
| Symptoms of CC*are | |||||||||
| Genital bleeding | 184 | (23.4) | 27 | (15.3) | 87 | (22.6) | 70 | (31.3) | 0.004 |
| Leucorrhoea | 110 | (14.0) | 21 | (11.9) | 45 | (11.7) | 44 | (19.6) | < 0.001 |
| Abdominal Pain | 123 | (15.7) | 16 | (9.0) | 46 | (12.0) | 61 | (27.2) | < 0.001 |
| CC*is a preventable | |||||||||
| Yes | 469 | (59.7) | 84 | (47.5) | 221 | (57.4) | 164 | (73.2) | < 0.001 |
| No | 161 | (20.5) | 43 | (24.3) | 88 | (22.9) | 30 | (13.4) | |
| Means of prevention for CC*(N = 469) | |||||||||
| Screening | 385 | (82.1) | 55 | (65.5) | 182 | (82.4) | 148 | (90.2) | < 0.001 |
| Vaccine | 151 | (32.2) | 21 | (25.0) | 77 | (34.8) | 53 | (32.3) | < 0.001 |
| Risk factors for CC* | |||||||||
| HIV infection | 91 | (11.6) | 7 | (4.0) | 31 | (8.1) | 53 | (23.7) | < 0.001 |
| Multiple sexual partners | 194 | (24.7) | 27 | (15.3) | 78 | (20.3) | 89 | (39.7) | < 0.001 |
| Early sexual initiation | 185 | (23.5) | 22 | (12.4) | 74 | (19.2) | 89 | (39.7) | < 0.001 |
| Reasons for no CC screening uptake (N = 699) | |||||||||
| Unawareness towards CC screening | 528 | (75.5) | 143 | (85.6) | 266 | (77.3) | 119 | (63.3) | < 0.001 |
| Negligence | 143 | (20.5) | 15 | (9.0) | 71 | (20.6) | 57 | (30.3) | < 0.001 |
| Fear of being diagnosed cancer | 27 | (3.9) | 4 | (2.4) | 18 | (5.2) | 5 | (2.7) | 0.212 |
| Fear of additional costs | 23 | (3.3) | 5 | (3.0) | 6 | (1.7) | 12 | (6.4) | 0.016 |
| Fear of a bad reception | 2 | (0.3) | – | – | 1 | (0.3) | 1 | (0.5) | 0.53 |
*CC: cervical cancer;μrelatives: parents, friends or living partner;∞Respondents had the possibility to choose over one choice;£only respondents for each variable among participants who ever heard about CC were considered, missing category was not specified; Except for the “total column”, proportions represent the number of women for each modality out of all women in the education level category