Changing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding cervical cancer screening: The effects of an educational intervention in rural Kenya
Open accessAbstract
Objective Cervical cancer screening uptake may be influenced by inadequate knowledge in resource-limited settings. This randomized trial evaluated a health talk's impact on cervical cancer knowledge, attitudes, and screening rates in rural Kenya. Methods 419 women attending government clinics were randomized to an intervention (N=207) or control (N=212) group. The intervention was a brief health talk on cervical cancer. Participants completed surveys at enrollment (all), immediately after the talk (intervention arm), and at three-months follow-up (all). The primary outcomes were the change in knowledge scores and the final screening rates at three-months follow-up. Secondary outcomes were changes in awareness about cervical cancer screening, perception of personal cervical cancer risk, cervical cancer and HIV stigma, and screening acceptability. Results Mean Knowledge Scores increased by 26.4% (8.7 points increased to 11.0 points) in the intervention arm compared to only 17.6% (8.5 points increased to 10.0 points) in the control arm (p<0.01). Screening uptake was moderate in both the intervention (58.9%; N=122) and control (60.9%; N=129) arms, with no difference between the groups (p=0.60). Conclusion A brief health talk increased cervical cancer knowledge, although it did not increase screening over simply informing women about free screening. Practical implications Screening programs can increase patient understanding with just a brief educational intervention.
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Knowledge and perception play a key role in influencing screening behavior.
“As has been previously documented, knowledge and perception play a key role in influencing screening behavior [47–51].”
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Research works printed but not linked: 23
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Rosser, J. I., Njoroge, B., & Huchko, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Kenya Medical Research Institute (KE)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rosser, Joelle I.
- Venue
- Patient Education and Counseling
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-07
- Volume
- 98
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 884-889
- ISSN
- 0738-3991 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4437717
- OpenAlex
- W2108575464
- Cited by
- 111
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 6 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 5.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Patient Education and Counseling (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (KL2TR000143)
- National Cancer Institute (L30 CA142334)
- National Center for Research Resources (KL2RR024130)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Women's cancer prevention and management
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Cervical Cancer and HPV Research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare
- Keywords
- cervical cancer screening, screening uptake, health education intervention, health talks, cervical cancer knowledge, attitude-behavior relationship, rural women, Kenya, HIV stigma, screening acceptability, resource-limited settings
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Uterine Cervical Neoplasms, Female, Health Education, Humans, Kenya, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Mass Screening, Middle Aged, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Perception, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk, Rural Population, Early Detection of Cancer
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