Table 3. Knowledge concerning CC risk factors, aetiology and prevention.
| Question | Healthcare professionals | Healthcare students | Total | p-valueb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Correct answera | ||||
| Smoking cigarettes (risk factor) | 175 (92.6) | 128 (67.0) | 303 (79.7) | <0.0001 |
| Poor personal hygiene (non-risk factor) | 48 (25.8) | 50 (27.0) | 98 (26.4) | n.s. |
| Having multiple sex partners (risk factor) | 163 (86.7) | 144 (80.0) | 307 (83.4) | n.s. |
| Use of herbal remedies (non-risk factor) | 111 (62.0) | 74 (46.0) | 185 (54.4) | 0.0030 |
| Use of tampons (non-risk factor) | 141 (77.0) | 107 (62.9) | 248 (70.2) | 0.0038 |
| Infection with HPV (risk factor) | 157 (82.2) | 129 (77.2) | 286 (79.9) | n.s. |
| Infection with HIV (risk factor) | 142 (77.6) | 105 (58.3) | 247 (68.0) | <0.0001 |
| Use of intrauterine devices (non-risk factor) | 87 (48.3) | 63 (37.3) | 150 (43.0) | 0.0371 |
| CC is one of the leading causes of death in women worldwide (true) | 161 (82.6) | 140 (71.8) | 301 (77.2) | 0.0113 |
| CC is preventable (true) | 157 (83.1) | 150 (83.8) | 307 (83.4) | n.s. |
| It is possible to detect pre-cancerous cervical cells (true) |
188 (96.4) | 177 (94.2) | 365 (95.3) | n.s. |
| The purpose of screening for CC is to detect pre-cancerous changes and the appearance of cancer (true) | 183 (94.8) | 178 (94.7) | 361 (94.8) | n.s. |
| If untreated, CC can be fatal (true) | 180 (93.3) | 172 (90.5) | 352 (91.9) | n.s. |
| CC is caused by a virus that is spread sexually (true) | 136 (76.8) | 100 (58.8) | 236 (68.0) | 0.0003 |
| There is a vaccine that can prevent CC (true) | 114 (65.1) | 61 (41.5) | 175 (54.4) | <0.0001 |
| CC is not curable (false) | 136 (70.1) | 117 (65.7) | 253 (68.0) | n.s. |
| CC is most common among women in their 20s (false) | 81 (43.6) | 112 (62.2) | 193 (52.7) | 0.0003 |
| For CC, the progression of pre-cancerous cells to cancer can take 10–20 years (true) | 73 (42.9) | 75 (46.8) | 148 (47.6) | n.s. |
| CC can usually be found at an early stage because of the obvious symptoms (false) | 45 (23.4) | 60 (33.0) | 105 (28.1) | 0.0404 |
a
Values are frequency (percent). ‘I don’t know’ responses were coded as missing
b
p-value is for χ2 test between healthcare professionals and healthcare students
Source: [28]