Knowledge and Acceptability of Cervical Cancer Screening Among Female Part Time Students
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and behavior among female students
in Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Kaduna State.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
- To assess the level of knowledge of the female students in Nuhu Bamalli
- Polytechnic about cervical screening.
- To determine what the attitudes of these students are towards cervical screening
- To identify the level of practice of cervical screening among these female students.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
All over the world cervical cancer has seen identified as the commonest female malignancy and the second cause of death from cancers among women in developing countries. In Nigeria, it is the commonest cancer of the female genital tract 250,000 new cases is expected to occur yearly.
Unlike in the developed countries, where the most common form of cancer among women is breast cancer, in developing countries, cervical cancer is the most common.
This has been clearly demonstrated in Nigeria where the neoplasm is a major cause of morbidity, mortality and disability among women. Inspite of its high fatality rate, cancer of the cervix has up to 100% cure rate if detected early at the pre-invasive stage through cytological screening. In Nigeria however, services for dealing with cervical cancer are predominantly curative. These curative centres consume huge resources but have minimal effect on mortality and prevalence rates. Preventive programme such as screening are usually either by chance or non–existent.
The cervix is the bottom part of the uterus, which connects the uterine body to the vagina or the birth canal. The part of the cervix that is closest tot eh uterine body is known as the endocervix and the part of the cervix that next tot eh vagina is called the ectocervix. Majority of the cervical cancer changes begins in the junction where the endocervix and ectocervix meet. Cervical Cancer develops when the cells of the cervix grow out of control. Unlike normal cells which divide and grow in an organized fashion, malignant cancer cells continue to divide until they form a growth or tumor. In some 9 cases, the cancer cells become invasive, spreading to tissues and organs outside of the cervix. Most cervical cancers develop in to cancer if not treated early, but some dysplasia cells may not be malignant and can disappear without treatment. It is estimated that approximately 40 women die every day of infiltrative cervical cancer (WHO, 2002).
According to Eduardo et al (2002), the highest risk areas are central South America, Southern and Eastern Africa and the Caribbean with incidence rates of at least 30 new cases per 100,000 women per year. Eduardo et al (2002) also stated that the mortality rate in Canada is lowest among all regions nearly 1500 new cases of cervical cancer were estimated to be diagnosed in Canadian women in year 2000, and an estimated 430 women died from the disease in the same year.
Cervical cancer is the 8th most common cancer in American women. More than 13,500 new patients develop invasive cancer and 7,000 women in United States die from the advanced form of this disease annually (WHO, 2006). WHO (2006) stated that in 1998, about 12,800 women were diagnosed and about 4,800 died. Incidence and mortality have declined in North America during the last 50 years because of increased availability of papanicolaou smear screening programmes.
There seems to be a trend of increasing incidence during the last few years among white women less than 50 years old living in the United States in areas covered by the Statistics Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) programme of National Cancer Institute (Eduardo et al, 2002). Cervical cancer is the 12th most common cancer for United Kingdom v/omen (cervical cancer statistics, 2007). The incidence is 8.8 per 100,000 per year similar to the rest of Northern Europe and mortality is 2.8 per 100,000 per year. In Nigeria cervical cancer remains the commonest reproductive malignancy.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The chapter focuses on the research design, area of the study method of data collection sampling and sampling techniques, method of data analysis administration of questionnaire, validity of the instrument used and either consideration.
RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design for the study is a non-experimental, cross sectional descriptive survey method in which the researchers determine the knowledge attitude and practice of cervical cancer screening among female students Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Kaduna State. This design was consider appropriate because the general purpose of survey research is to reveal the current condition and reveal the need for change in the aspect of cervical screening.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON STUDY AREA
The Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Zaria (formerly Kaduna State Polytechnic) came into being on 2nd February, 1989. The college is located in Zaria and the town lies between latitude 11.07 and 12 degree north and longitude 07.44 and 8 degrees east. Located as a distance of about 962km from the Atlantic Ocean and it is about 80km north of Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna state.
The college is made up of six schools viz: School of Management Studies, school of Applied Sciences, School of Engineering Technology, School Technology, School of Environmental Studies, School of Liberal Studies and School of Agricultural Technology. As at February 2013, the total population of students in the institution is 41 twelve thousand, five hundred (12,500) out of these, five thousand (5000), are females while the rest seven thousand, five hundred (7,500) are males.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
This chapter focuses on results and analysis of data which were collected using questionnaire. Frequency distribution table and percentages were used to analyze the results. A total of 60 questionnaires were administered and all of them were returned.
Table 4.1 above shows the socio-demographic variables of the respondent which reveals the following: 50% of the respondents were within the age group 30-34 years.
They make up the largest proportion. The lowest proportion constitutes 3.4% of the respondents and fall within the age group 35 years and above. 33.3% were within the age group 25-29, 13.3% fall within the age group 20-24. The table also shows that 58.3% of the respondents were married, 33.3% were single and 5% were divorced while 3.4% were
widows. Out of 58.3% that were married, 85.7% were monogamous while 14.3% were polygamous. The table also shows that 58.3% of the respondents were Muslim, 36.7% were Christians and 5% were traditional worshippers. 50% of the respondents were Hausa, while 25% were Yoruba and 16.7% were Ibo and 8.3% were other tribes. All the respondents (100%) are in tertiary institution.
CHAPTER FIVE
INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses the findings analyzed in chapter four, summarizes, concludes and make recommendation as regarding the knowledge of cervical cancer and screening practices among female students Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Zaria.
DISCUSSION OF FINDING
Socio-Demographic Data
Results according to the age of respondents shows that the highest frequency (50%) are among age range of 25 – 29 years. This can be related to the fact that most students in an academic institution are young adults compared to what was obtainable in the parts (58.3%) of the respondents were married and (58.3%) are Muslims, while (36.7%) of the respondents were Christians and (5%) from other traditional religions.
Knowledge about Cervical Cancer
Findings revealed that 66.7% of the respondents have never heard of cervical cancer. While 33.3% had knowledge about the concept of cervical cancer, and the few that had about it (29.5%) did so through lectures and campaigns. Majority of the respondents demonstrated incorrect knowledge about the risk factors and only a few with good idea of the symptom of cervical cancer. Findings on knowledge about cervical cancer is in agreement with Jee S.H., Lee J.E. and Park J.S. (2003) where only 4.3% demonstrated correct knowledge about cervical cancer of which only 2% knew the signs and symptoms. This is also similar to Alnorlu et al (2000) in which ignorance among other factors was attributed to the high incidence of cervical cancer.
Attitude towards Cervical Screening
Most of the respondents about (78.7%) had not undergone any form of cervical screening while only 21.3% had screening test done once. This agrees with a study carried out by Kabir et al (2006) where 81.7% of the respondents have not undergone any form of cervical screening where practiced.
Reasons for None Cervical Screening Test
The study revealed that lack of knowledge about, cervical screening test was the reason for not doing the test, as 32% of the respondents said they didn’t know about the screening test.
SUMMARY
The study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of cervical cancer and screening practices among female students of Nuhu Bammalli polytechnic Zaria. Relevant literatures on cervical cancer, cause and risk factors, staging and grading of cervical cancer and knowledge of cervical cancer and screening practices were reviewed. The study was descriptive in nature and a probability sample was adopted in selecting the respondents with a sample size of 60. Questionnaires were used to collect data which was administered on random basis.
A total of 60 questionnaires were administered and all returned. Data was analysed using frequency distribution tables and percentages. Results from the study showed poor knowledge about the cervical screening, poor concept of cervical cancer and low practice of screening test among the respondents.
CONCLUSION
From the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the knowledge of cervical cancer and screening practices among female students of Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Zaria is low and only a few are involved in screening test, which shows that their attitude towards cervical screening programs was negative as seen by their practice on cervical screening, despite lectures and campaigns which were source of information.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made:
- The government should embark on public awareness campaigns using mass media like radio, television, posters and bills to address issues on cervical cancer at various level of education.
- Social clubs and associations in the polytechnic should organize a cervical cancer week for free pap smear test for the female students.
- Health education on cervical cancer and screening test should be included in the hospitals for young adult female students.
- Government needs to put in place a national policy on screening for cervical cancer and other cancers wit appropriate screening guidelines
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