INTERNATIONAL COLUMN Knowledge regarding cervical cancer among undergraduate female students at a selected college of Lalitpur, Nepal

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women living in less developed regions. In Nepal, little is known regarding the knowledge of cervical cancer in female young adults. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to find out the knowledge regarding cervical cancer among undergraduate female students. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from a non-probability sample of 150 female students from Little Angels College of Management in Lalitpur, Nepal. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Among the respondents, the mean age was 19.3 ± 1.1 years. Almost all (95%) of the respondents had inadequate knowledge regarding cervical cancer. Fifty-six percent of the respondents knew the meaning of cervical cancer and 35% of the respondents had an average knowledge about risk factors. Almost two-thirds of the students knew that cervical cancer is preventable. Regarding the preventive measures, good hygiene was identified by 68.5% of respondents followed by HPV vaccine 38.3%, using condom 19.5%, and Pap smear test 8.7%. The knowledge about HPV vaccine was only told by 11.3% of respondents. There was no statistically significant association between knowledge with selected variables (age, religion, ethnicity, family income, smoking and sexual practice) in the study.

Based on the findings, it is concluded that female students had inadequate knowledge regarding cervical cancer. This result reflects the need for health awareness campaigns to the students and community regarding cervical cancer, including the symptoms, causes, risk factors and preventive measures.