Mudau Azwinndini Gladys
University of Venda, South Africa
Title: Women’s Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Cervical Cancer Prevention at Rural Health Care facilities in Limpopo province, South Africa
Biography
Biography: Mudau Azwinndini Gladys
Abstract
The study assessed the attitudes and beliefs of women attending health care facilities regarding cervical cancer screening. This cross-sectional study involved 500 participants chosen conveniently from a total of 9868 outpatient women aged ≥ 18 years from Tshilidzini Hospital and Tshilidzi Gateway clinic. Self- administered questionnaires were used to collect data which were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation method. Whilst about 1 in every 3 participants (n=203; 59.0%) disagreed that papnicolaou (pap) is painful, nearly 7 in every 10 participants disagreed that Pap smear is embarrassing and at the same time agreed that there is no need to worry about signs and symptoms of cervical cancer. Furthermore, this study established a positive significant correlation between the belief that cervical cancer can be diagnosed by pap smear and ever heard about pap smear (r=0.405; p<0.01). Health education and promotion is, paramount in the Department of Health education and promotion is, therefore, paramount in the Department of Health’ initiative of raising cervical cancer awareness among South African women.
Keywords: Attitudes, beliefs, Pap smear, Screening, cervical cancer.