Ghufran Jassim
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland - Medical University of Bahrain, Bahrain
Title: Knowledge attitudes and practices regarding cervical cancer and screening among women visiting primary health care centers in Bahrain
Biography
Biography: Ghufran Jassim
Abstract
Background: Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers among women, with 80% of the cases occurring in developing
countries. Cervical cancer is largely preventable by eff ective screening programs. Th is has not been possible with opportunistic
screening and its low use in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Th e objective of this study was to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and
practices of women attending primary care health centres for cervical cancer screening.
Methods: Th is was a cross-sectional study of 300 women attending primary health care centres in Bahrain. We used a validated
tool comprised of 45 items to collect data through face-to-face interviews between December 2015 and February 2016.
Descriptive data are presented for demographic data, and frequency distributions with percentages are presented for each item
of the knowledge and attitude questionnaire.
Results: Th e mean age±SD of the participants was 37.24±11.89 years, they were mostly married (221; 73.7%), and had a high
school or higher education (261; 87%). Over 64% (194 participants) had never heard of a Pap smear procedure and only 3.7%
(11 participants) had heard about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Nearly 64% (192 participants) believed that a Pap
smear was helpful in detecting pre-cancer and cancer of the cervix, and 44.3% (133 participants) believed that they should have
a Pap smear at least every three years. Regarding the practice, only 40.7% (122 participants) had a Pap smear in their lifetime.
Th e majority of participants felt embarrassed when examined by a male doctor (250; 83.3%) and few underwent a Pap smear
screening if they were never married (69; 23.0%).
Conclusions: Th e participants demonstrated a wide range of knowledge and attitudes towards cervical cancer screening.
However, the majority demonstrated positive attitudes towards the HPV vaccine.