Impacts of Educational Intervention on Cervical Cancer Knowledge Among Health Care Students in a Tertiary Institution

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer (CC) is the commonest female cancer in the developing nations. The virus behind CC is Human papillomavirus (HPV). In sub-Saharan Africa, high mortality arises from low public awareness and knowledge about the disease.

Objective: This study assessed the effectiveness of educational intervention as a means to improve cervical cancer knowledge among health care students.

Methodology: Year 4-5 medical and pharmacy students of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) took part in a quasi-experimental study. An anonymous pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data at pre-and post-intervention sessions for comparison after one and half hours of educational intervention lecture. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 16. P ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: Age range 21-26 years was 85.0%, male to female: 1.1:1.2. Majority (63.1%) had heard of CC prior to the intervention, gender it affects (50.6%), stages of cervical cancer (26.3%). Infection with HPV (14.4%), genetics (61.9%), having many children (15.0%). Pap test is to detect early signs of CC (41.3%), pap test not needed after HPV vaccine (20.0%), healthy adult women have pap test every three years (21.3%), All the scores significantly increased after post-intervention.

Conclusion: Educational intervention was successful in improving CC knowledge among participants.