Abstract
BackgroundThe burden of cervical cancer continues to rise in developing economies. Women in the sub-Saharan African region have higher chances of developing cervical cancer due to a greater prevalence of related risk factors. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of health education intervention on cervical cancer and screening perceptions of women in the Komenda, Edina, Eguafo, and Abirem (K.E.E.A) District in the Central Region of Ghana.MethodsA non-equivalent control-group design was used to select church women; 396 in the intervention group and 386 in the control group, aged 11 to 70 years in the K.E.E.A District in the Central Region of Ghana. Data was collected via a validated structured interview schedule and analysed using the paired - and independent-samples t-tests, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U test.ResultsA comparison of the mean differences between the pre-post-test scores for the intervention and control groups showed a statistically significant difference for knowledge of cervical cancer (t = 6.22, df = 780, p = 0.001), knowledge of cervical cancer screening (t = 5.96, df = 780, p = 0.001), perceived seriousness (t = 3.36, df = 780, p = 0.001), perceived benefits (t = 9.19, df = 780, p = 0.001), and perceived barriers (t = 3.19, df = 780, p = 0.001). However, perceived susceptibility for the intervention group reduced, evidenced by a decrease in the mean (mean = − 0.12) compared to the control group (mean = 0.93) and this was statistically significant (t = 2.72, df = 780, p = 0.007).ConclusionsHealth education interventions are critical in improving knowledge and perceptions, and increasing self-efficacy of women about cervical cancer and screening.Trial registrationISRCTN Registry: Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN13468198. Registered 22 March 2019.
Highlights
The burden of cervical cancer continues to rise in developing economies
21.5% of the women were within the age group 50-59 years
Effects of Health Education Intervention on Perceptions of Cervical Cancer Screening The findings further suggest that perceived seriousness about cervical cancer increased for women in the intervention group compared to the control group after the pre-post-test scores for both the intervention and control groups have been compared
Summary
The burden of cervical cancer continues to rise in developing economies. Women in the sub-Saharan African region have higher chances of developing cervical cancer due to a greater prevalence of related risk factors. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of health education intervention on cervical cancer and screening perceptions of women in the Komenda, Edina, Eguafo, and Abirem (K.E.E.A) District in the Central Region of Ghana. Cervical cancer is a disease of concern to women’s health worldwide. It is estimated that 8.6 million women above 15 years of age in Ghana are at increased risk of developing cervical cancer [1]. Cancer of the cervix is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) [2]. The low level of awareness and knowledge about the disease and screening are some of the factors impacting cervical cancer screening
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