Abstract
In the years 2014, coverage rates of cervical cancer screening in Nakornnayok province accounted to 76.5%. This was lower than the government's specified goal of 80%. Community health volunteers are members of a Thai healthcare alliance established to help promoting healthcare service communication and collaboration at the primary level. Such village health volunteers (VHVs) are established in most villages. To assess the knowledge and attitudes of cervical cancer screening among VHVs. The subjects were 128 VHVs from four Nakornnayok sub-districts; namely KlongYai, Chomphol, Buangsan and Suksara, Thailand. The study was conducted from December 2014 to January 2015. The questionnaire was designed to assess the knowledge and attitude of cervical cancer screening provided by the VHVs. In addition, cervical cancer screening coverage rates of each area were collected. The demographic data, scores of knowledge, attitudes, practices and the cervical cancer screening coverage rates were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. The questionnaire reliability was assessed as 0.81. The total knowledge and attitude scores were 10 and 15 points. The mean knowledge scores of KlongYai, Chomphol, Buangsan and Suksara were 6.8, 7.0, 6.5 and 9.0 points, respectively. The VHVs had a high level of overall knowledge about cervical cancer screening. The mean attitude scores were 12.4, 13.2, 13.4 and 13.1 points. VHVs had a positive attitude to the promotion of cervical cancer screening at the overall level. The percentages of VHVs promoting cervical cancer information in respective districts were 72.2, 94.3, 94.9 and 50.0. However, the cervical cancer screening coverage rates were 62.4%, 34.7%, 80.3% and 47.3% respectively. The knowledge, attitudes and percentages of promoting information of cervical cancer screening among VHVs in the four sub-districts were high but did not correlate with the cervical screening coverage rates for each area. VHVs needed to understand socio-cultural beliefs of the women in the target population and design suitable strategies to encourage higher cervical screening coverage.
Highlights
Cervical cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer worldwide
In Thailand, women 30-60 years of age can take cervical cancer screening, Pap smear, with no out of the pocket cost from the health care center supported by the national policy promoting routine screening.One screening every five years bears no cost to the individual
The Thai Public Health Office had set a cervical cancer screening goal according to the standard requirement that 80 percent of women aged 30-60 years-old should be screened by Pap test (2010-2014)
Summary
Cervical cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer worldwide. It is the second most common cancer among women in Thailand. The Thai universal healthcare policy under the guidance of Thai Ministry of Public Health recommended that Thai women aged 30 to 60 years old should be screened for cervical cancer at least every five years by any methods (The 11th National Economic and Social Development Plan, 2012-2016). These methods included Pap smear, visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and human papilloma virus (HPV) testing. Conclusions: The knowledge, attitudes and percentages of promoting information of cervical cancer screening among VHVs in the four sub-districts were high but did not correlate with the cervical screening coverage rates for each area. VHVs needed to understand socio-cultural beliefs of the women in the target population and design suitable strategies to encourage higher cervical screening coverage
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