. Jisa George T; . Kiran Batra
Volume 12, Issue 9 , October 2022, , Pages 1-9
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide, especially in developingcountries. More than one‑fifth of newly diagnosed cervical cancer cases are occurring ...
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BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide, especially in developingcountries. More than one‑fifth of newly diagnosed cervical cancer cases are occurring in India. Cervicalcancer is a highly preventable and curable cancer compared with other types of cancer, if detectedat an early stage. The present study has been carried out to assess whether a community‑based,multicomponent, nurse‑led intervention program improves cervical cancer screening behavior ofwomen.MATERIALS AND METHODS: An experimental randomized controlled trial was carried out byrecruiting 419 women in the age group of 30–60 years (246 in the experimental group and 173 in thecontrol group) residing in a selected rural community (selected tribal settlements) of Idukki district ofKerala, India, using multistage cluster sampling. The intervention comprising small group educationfollowed by reinforcement session, telephonic reminders, navigation and guidance for Pap smear,and follow‑up visit by the investigator was administered to the experimental group, and the controlgroup did not receive any intervention. Knowledge, attitude, and screening behavior of women relatedto prevention of cervical cancer were assessed before and twice after the intervention.RESULTS: The experimental and control groups were homogenous in all baseline sociodemographicvariables. The community‑based intervention program was effective in improving knowledge(P< 0.001),attitude (P < 0.001), and screening behavior (P < 0.001) of women regarding the prevention of cervicalcancer. A significant moderate positive correlation was found between knowledge and screeningbehavior (r = 0.408). Significant association was found between knowledge, attitude, and practiceregarding prevention of cervical cancer with education, age at the time of marriage, and number ofpregnancies.CONCLUSION: The community‑based, multicomponent, nurse‑led intervention program waseffective in improving cervical cancer screening behavior among women. Repeated motivation andreinforcement are needed to bring behavioral change and to increase uptake of screening servicesamong rural women.
