Knowledge, attitudes and practices on cervical cancer screening among the medical workers of Mulago Hospital, Uganda
Open accessAbstract
Background: Cervical cancer is the commonest cancer of women in Uganda. Over 80% of women diagnosed in Mulago national referral and teaching hospital, the biggest hospital in Uganda, have advanced disease. Pap smear screening, on opportunistic rather than systematic basis, is offered free in the gynaecological outpatients clinic and the postnatal/family planning clinics. Medical students in the third and final clerkships are expected to learn the techniques of screening. Objective s of this study were to describe knowledge on cervical cancer, attitudes and practices towards cervical cancer screening among the medical workers of Mulago hospital. Methods: In a descriptive cross-sectional study, a weighted sample of 310 medical workers including nurses, doctors and final year medical students were interviewed using a self-administered questionnaire. We measured knowledge about cervical cancer: (risk factors, eligibility for screening and screening techniques), attitudes towards cervical cancer screening and practices regarding screening. Results: Response rate was 92% (285). Of these, 93% considered cancer of the cervix a public health problem and knowledge about Pap smear was 83% among respondents. Less than 40% knew risk factors for cervical cancer, eligibility for and screening interval. Of the female respondents, 65% didn't feel susceptible to cervical cancer and 81% had never been screened. Of the male respondents, only 26% had partners who had ever been screened. Only 14% of the final year medical students felt skilled enough to use a vaginal speculum and 87% had never performed a pap smear. Conclusion: Despite knowledge of the gravity of cervical cancer and prevention by screening using a Pap smear, attitudes and practices towards screening were negative. The medical workers who should be responsible for opportunistic screening of women they care for are not keen on getting screened themselves. There is need to explain/understand the cause of these attitudes and practices and identify possible interventions to change them. Medical students leave medical school without adequate skills to be able to effectively screen women for cervical cancer wherever they go to practice. Medical students and nurses training curricula needs review to incorporate practical skills on cervical cancer screening.
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Women who expressed personal susceptibility to cervical cancer believed it was necessary to have HPV self-test done and vice versa to those who expressed lack of personal susceptibility.
“and for women who expressed personal susceptibility to cervical cancer believed it was necessary to have HPV self- test done and vice versa to those who expressed lack of personal susceptibility [44–46].”
From Perspectives of women participating in a cervical cancer screening campaign with community-based HPV self-sampling in rural western Kenya: a qualitative study (2019) · cites this paper as [45]
The Attitudes section says female medical workers cited not feeling at risk as a reason for not having been screened, and the Discussion links low perceived vulnerability to low screening uptake. The paper discusses cervical screening, particularly Pap smears, but does not establish that women who felt susceptible believed HPV self-testing was necessary, or that those who did not feel susceptible believed the opposite. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Oketch, S. Y., Kwena, Z., Choi, Y., Adewumi, K., Moghadassi, M., Bukusi, E. A., & Huchko, M. J. (2019) · BMC Women's Health · doi:10.1186/s12905-019-0778-2 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
- Authors
- Mutyaba, T., Mmiro, F. A., & Weiderpass, E.
- Affiliations
- Mulago Hospital (UG)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Weiderpass, Elisabete
- Venue
- BMC Medical Education
- Published
- 2006-03-01
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 13-13
- ISSN
- 1472-6920 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC1413529
- OpenAlex
- W1849504970
- Cited by
- 242
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 3.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMC Medical Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- United States Agency for International Development
- Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete
- Karolinska Institutet
- 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 › Medicine › Oncology › Global Cancer Incidence and Screening
- Keywords
- cervical cancer screening, Pap smear, healthcare workers, knowledge, attitudes and practices, opportunistic screening, medical students, nurses, cervical cancer risk factors, screening eligibility, Mulago Hospital
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Ambulatory Care Facilities, Attitude of Health Personnel, Uterine Cervical Neoplasms, Clinical Competence, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Gynecology, Hospitals, Teaching, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Mass Screening, Medical Staff, Hospital, Middle Aged, Nursing Staff, Hospital, Practice Patterns, Physicians', Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Students, Medical, Uganda, Vaginal Smears, Papanicolaou Test
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