Assessment of the knowledge , attitude and practice of the paramedical health care staffs towards cervical cancer and its screening of maternity and child health care hospital (mch) of al ahsa region of saudi arabia

Background: Cervical cancer which usually happens in the middle aged women is a preventable condition if appropriate screening and prophylactic strategies are employed properly. The cervical cancer (CC) is the 13th most frequent cancer and the 6th most frequent cancer between 15 and 44 years of age among the Saudi women, the incidence of which can be effectively reduced further by creating more awareness among the general population regarding this condition. The paramedics are the front liner in propagating the knowledge and creating awareness among the general population. The present study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of cervical cancer and its screening among the female paramedics of Maternity and Child Hospital (MCH} of Al Ahsa region of Saudi Arabia.
Material and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey on female paramedics at MCH, Al Ahsa. The data were collected using predesigned, tested and self-administered questionnaires on knowledge, attitude and Practices of cervical cancer. All the data were entered in the SPSS 21 and analyzed. The data were described using descriptive statistics including percentage, frequencies, mean and standard deviation.
Results: Of the total 130 questionnaires distributed to all the Para medics, 115 were returned making a response rate of 88%. The mean age (SD) of the participants was 38.20 (± 7.91) years with range (20 to 53 years). Most of them (84.3%) were married. The result showed that only 20% of the participants had good knowledge of prevalence, causes, risks, symptoms treatment and prevention of the cervical cancer while around twenty five percent had fair knowledge about cervical cancer and its screening. The mean score of participants’ attitude  was 7.15±1.74(SD) out of total score of 10  with a range of (2-10). More than ninety percent of the participants were found to be having positive attitude towards cervical cancer prevention. More than ninety six percent of the participants in our study believed that they should go for cervical screening since it helps in the prevention of cervical cancer. More than fifty percent of our study participants were not aware of the fact that HPV vaccination is helpful in preventing the cervical cancer. As far as practice towards cervical cancer and its screening is concerned our study showed that only 3.4 percent of the participant was vaccinated against HPV. Likewise only 6.1% of the participants were screened for cervical cancer. Low number of vaccination and deficient screening for cervical cancer among the participants are a matter of concern in our study. The majority of participants in our study had not attended any seminar and conferences on cervical cancer nor were they involved in cervical awareness programme. This necessitates arranging such programme to enhance their knowledge of cervical cancer.
Conclusion: Though our study showed poor knowledge of cervical cancer among the participants but their attitude towards this condition was found to be positive. In spite of the fact that most of the participants were aware of the importance of Pap smear test, but less than ten percent of them were screened for Pap smear test. This study highlights the need for seminars, symposium and awareness programme for comprehensive education on cervical cancer and its screening for the health care staffs of MCH hospital Al Ahsa.