Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Postpartum Parturients Towards Cervical Cancer and Cervical Cancer Screening; Is Lack of Knowledge the Misleading Scapegoat?

Kanjanawilai, Nattapat; Wisarnsirirak, Pattra; Chanthasenanont, Athita; Pattaraarchachai, Junya; Suwannarurk, Komsun

doi:10.31557/APJCP.2022.23.6.2145

Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Postpartum Parturients Towards Cervical Cancer and Cervical Cancer Screening; Is Lack of Knowledge the Misleading Scapegoat?

Document Type : Research Articles

Authors

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Pathum Thani, Thailand.

10.31557/APJCP.2022.23.6.2145

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude, and practices towards cervical cancer screening among postpartum subjects. Study design: This cross-sectional study was conducted at inpatient obstetrics ward at Thammasat University Hospital (TUH), Thailand. The period of study was between July 2020 and July 2021. Subjects were term Thai pregnant women who had age between 20 and 45 years old and delivered at TUH. Demographic characters, knowledge, attitude and practices regarding cervical cancer screening were collected. Results: A total of 388 parturient was recruited into the study. Average age was 31 years old. Around 90 percent of subjects knew that every woman age between 21and 65 years old with or without children should be screened for cervical cancer despite having only 46.6 percent (181/388) of subjects that underwent postpartum cervical cancer screening. Almost half of the participant agreed that risky sexual behavior of both genders was not the cause of cervical cancer. Despite the availability of the HPV vaccine throughout the country, only 74.2 percent acknowledged that HPV was the cause and only 70.4% heard about the HPV vaccine. The mean attitude about the cervical cancer was relatively high with the mean of 3.19±0.46. Although the higher the score the better the attitude toward the statement, there were several correlations of having such attitude. Conclusion: Attention to postpartum cervical cancer screening was quite low even though high knowledge of cervical cancer and screening. Scant knowledge was not all of the troubles that we believed long time ago.

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