Cervical cancer screening: knowledge, attitude and practices among nursing staff in a tertiary level teaching institution of rural India.

BACKGROUND: Assessment of the nursing staff knowledge, attitude and practices about cervical cancer screening in a tertiary care teaching institute of rural India.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional, descriptive, interview- based survey was conducted with a pretested questionnaire among 262 staff nurses of a tertiary care teaching and research institute.

RESULTS: In this study 77% respondents knew that Pap smear is used for detection of cervical cancer, but less than half knew that Pap smear can detect even precancerous lesions of cervix. Only 23.4% knew human papilloma virus infection as a risk factor. Only 26.7% of the respondents were judged as having adequate knowledge based on scores allotted for questions evaluating knowledge about cervical cancer and screening. Only 17 (7%) of the staff nurses had themselves been screened by Pap smear, while 85% had never taken a Pap smear of a patient. Adequate knowledge of cervical cancer and screening, higher parity and age >30 years were significantly associated with self screening for cervical cancer. Most nurses held a view that Pap test is a doctor procedure, and nearly 90% of nurses had never referred a patient for Pap testing.

CONCLUSIONS: The majority of nursing staff in rural India may have inadequate knowledge about cervical cancer screening, and their attitude and practices towards cervical cancer screening could not be termed positive.