School of Public Health and Community Development, Maseno University, Private Bag, Maseno, Kenya.
BMC Womens Health. 2024 Jun 6;24(1):327. doi: 10.1186/s12905-024-03075-2.
Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer death among women of reproductive age despite being treatable if it is diagnosed early. Early diagnosis is possible through regular screening through the public health system. However, screening rates remain low in many low- and middle-income countries, including Kenya, where the screening rate currently stands at 16-18%. The low screening rates are attributed to, among other factors, low knowledge about cervical cancer and the available screening options among women of reproductive age. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of dialogue-based community health education by trained community health volunteers (CHVs) in improving cervical cancer knowledge among women of reproductive age (WRA) in rural Kisumu County.
This was a longitudinal pre- and post-intervention study with a control group. The knowledge of women of reproductive age was assessed at baseline in both the intervention and control groups, followed by dialogue-based community health education in the intervention arm. A final end-line knowledge assessment was performed. The scores at baseline and at the end of the study were compared to assess changes in knowledge due to the intervention. The proportion of WRA with improved knowledge was also calculated, and statistical significance was considered at p ≤ 0.05.
There was no significant difference between the participants in the two arms, except for the level of education (p = 0.002). The knowledge of the WRA in the intervention arm improved significantly (p < 0.001) following the dialogue-based educational intervention by the trained CHVs. None of the demographic characteristics were associated with knowledge.
Dialogue-based educational intervention significantly improved the knowledge of the WRA in the intervention arm, showing its potential to address the knowledge gap in the community.
尽管宫颈癌如果及早诊断是可以治疗的，但它仍是育龄妇女癌症死亡的主要原因。通过公共卫生系统定期筛查可以实现早期诊断。然而，在许多低收入和中等收入国家，包括肯尼亚，筛查率仍然很低，目前为 16-18%。低筛查率归因于育龄妇女对宫颈癌和现有筛查方法的认识不足等因素。目前的研究评估了经过培训的社区卫生志愿者（CHVs）通过对话式社区卫生教育在提高农村基苏木县育龄妇女（WRA）对宫颈癌知识的有效性。
这是一项具有对照组的纵向预-后干预研究。在干预组和对照组中，均在基线时评估了育龄妇女的知识，然后在干预组中进行了基于对话的社区卫生教育。最后进行了终点知识评估。比较基线和研究结束时的分数，以评估干预引起的知识变化。还计算了具有改善知识的 WRA 的比例，并认为 p≤0.05 具有统计学意义。
除了教育水平（p=0.002）外，两个组的参与者之间没有显着差异。经过受过培训的 CHVs 进行的基于对话的教育干预后，干预组的 WRA 知识显着提高（p<0.001）。没有任何人口统计学特征与知识相关。
基于对话的教育干预显着提高了干预组 WRA 的知识，显示了其在解决社区知识差距方面的潜力。
