Knowledge of Female Students in Public Tertiary Institutions in Imo about Cervical Cancer Screening

Abstract

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality among women worldwide, making it a major public health concern. This study assessed the knowledge of female students in public tertiary institution in Imo about cervical cancer screening. The study, guided by three research questions and two null hypotheses tested at the 0.05 significance level used a descriptive survey design. A sample size of 900 students was drawn from a population of 11,825 female undergraduates. The research instrument, “Knowledge of Cervical Cancer Screening Test (KCCST)” was validated and found reliable for data collection, with a coefficient alpha of 0.89. Data were collected through direct delivery and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), employing descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentage to answer research questions and Chi square was also used to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that majority (83.7%) of female students in public tertiary institutions possessed high level of knowledge about cervical cancer screening, while a smaller portion (16.3%) had moderate knowledge. The findings further revealed that there was no significant difference in the percentages of female students with knowledge of cervical cancer screening based on their ages and level of education. The sauthors recommended among others that health education departments in tertiary institutions, public health organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should focus on cancer knowledge should develop and implement targeted educational programmes to address the knowledge gaps identified among students with moderate knowledge.