Endale Sisay, Delelegn Kalkidan, Negash Zenebe
Department of Pharmaceutics and Social Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, P.O. Box: 9086, Ethiopia.
Department of Pharmaceutics and Social Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Ther Adv Vaccines Immunother. 2025 Jan 27;13:25151355251314733. doi: 10.1177/25151355251314733. eCollection 2025.
Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Early screening and vaccination can prevent cervical cancer; however, the low levels of knowledge, attitude, and practice among the young can contribute to the high prevalence of cervical cancer.
This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of cervical cancer and associated factors among female Health Sciences students of the College of Health Sciences at Addis Ababa University.
A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2022 to June 2022 among regular undergraduate female Health Sciences students of Addis Ababa University.
Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. Results were presented using descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis was conducted to look at the existence of significant associations and determine adjusted odds ratio. Statistical significance was declared at -value ⩽0.05.
The majority of the study participants were within the age range of 18-24 years. From the 305 female Health Sciences students, almost all had heard about cervical cancer and 93.4% of them reported that human papillomavirus is the causative agent. About 75% of the respondents recognized at least one possible symptom of cervical cancer. Furthermore, nearly 70% and 78.3% of the participants showed positive attitudes toward taking and recommending human papillomavirus vaccines respectively. Only 16.1% and 48.9% of the respondents have good knowledge, and a positive attitude respectively. Surprisingly only 1.6% and 0.3% of the respondents have taken the human papillomavirus vaccine and undergone cervical screening respectively. Radiography technology students are about 86% less likely to have good knowledge compared to students in other fields of study ( = 0.04). Furthermore, year 4 and above students have significantly higher knowledge (89.2%) compared to those in years 1-3 (58%; AOR: 0.14, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.35).
The knowledge of female Health Sciences students on cervical cancer was moderate, and about half had a positive attitude. However, their practice of human papillomavirus screening and vaccination was very low. Level of education and field of study were significantly associated with the knowledge of cervical cancer. Addressing gaps through awareness programs, and enhancing accessible health services can help empower these future health professionals.
宫颈癌是全球女性中最常见的癌症。早期筛查和疫苗接种可预防宫颈癌；然而，年轻人对宫颈癌的知识、态度和行为水平较低，这可能导致宫颈癌的高发病率。
本研究旨在评估亚的斯亚贝巴大学健康科学学院女性健康科学专业学生对宫颈癌的知识、态度和行为水平以及相关因素。
2022年2月至2022年6月，对亚的斯亚贝巴大学正规本科女性健康科学专业学生进行了一项描述性横断面研究。
使用自填式问卷收集数据，并使用SPSS进行分析。结果采用描述性统计呈现，并进行双变量分析以查看是否存在显著关联并确定调整后的优势比。当p值≤0.05时宣布具有统计学意义。
大多数研究参与者年龄在18-24岁之间。在305名女性健康科学专业学生中，几乎所有人都听说过宫颈癌，其中93.4%的人报告人乳头瘤病毒是致病因素。约75%的受访者认识到至少一种宫颈癌的可能症状。此外，近70%和78.3%的参与者分别对接种和推荐人乳头瘤病毒疫苗持积极态度。只有16.1%和48.9%的受访者分别具有良好的知识和积极的态度。令人惊讶的是，只有1.6%和0.3%的受访者分别接种过人乳头瘤病毒疫苗和接受过宫颈癌筛查。与其他研究领域的学生相比，放射技术专业的学生具备良好知识的可能性低约86%（p = 0.04）。此外，四年级及以上的学生（89.2%）的知识水平明显高于一至三年级的学生（58%；调整后的优势比：0.14，95%置信区间：0.05，0.35）。
女性健康科学专业学生对宫颈癌的知识水平中等，约一半人持积极态度。然而，她们进行人乳头瘤病毒筛查和接种疫苗的行为非常少。教育水平和研究领域与宫颈癌知识显著相关。通过提高认识的项目填补差距，并加强可获得的医疗服务，有助于增强这些未来的医疗专业人员的能力。
