Utilization Of Cervical Screening Research Articles

Utilization of Cervical Cancer Screening and Associated Factors among Female Health Workers in Governmental Health Institution of Arba Minch Town and Zuria District, Gamo Gofa Zone, Arba Minch, Ethiopia, 2016

Background: Cervical cancer screening is a key to detect the pre-cervical cancer earlier, but it is almost not utilized in all developing countries and most cases were diagnosed at late stage of cervical cancer. The current screening level has no much effect to control cervical cancer unless addressing female health workers since they are a role model to the public. Objective: The study was conducted to assess the utilizations of cervical cancer screening and associated factors among female Health workers in Arba Minch town and Zuria woreda public health facilities in 2016/17. Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study design was conducted in Arba Minch town and Zuria district, among selected female health professions using computer generated technique of simple random sampling. The data was collected by means of self-administered questionnaires and ethical issue had been given more emphasized during data collection time. Data was entered using EPI info version 7.2.0.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 20. The associations of explanatory and outcome variables were assessed by binary logistic regression and those variables with p value of less than 0.25 were included in multivariate analysis and Statistical significant was considered with odd ratio, 95% of confidence interval and p value of <0.05. Result: About 281 of the respondents were correctly completed the questionnaire of the total respondents, only 27 (9.6%) have had cervical screening within the past three years. There was an association between service year utilization of cervical cancer screening (AOR=4.99, 95% CI: 1.36-18.10), knowledge of cervical cancer screening and utilization of cervical cancer screening (AOR 1.78, 95% CI: 1.05-3.02). Conclusion: The level of utilization of screening was low in female health workers, service year and knowledge were associated with the utilization of cervical screening. Sustaining awareness creation and sensitization of screening should be given emphasis broadly for female’s health workers to increase the number of utilization in health workers.

Barriers to utilisation of cervical cancer screening in Sub Sahara Africa: a systematic review.

Cervical cancer is the commonest cause of cancer-related death in Sub Sahara Africa (SSA). Both primary and secondary preventive services are available but utilisation remain low. This systematic review aims to summarise reported barriers preventing women from utilising cervical cancer screening services in SSA. Electronic searches on MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, BIOSIS preview, Global Health, PubMed, Cochrane library, CINAHL, ISI Web of Knowledge and Google scholar and quality assessment of the included studies were performed. A meta-analysis was applied to identify major themes. Eight studies exploring reasons women did not utilise cervical cancer screening were included. Women in SSA reported similar barriers despite cultural and language diversity in the region. Women reported fear of screening procedure and negative outcome, low level of awareness of services, embarrassment and possible violation of privacy, lack of spousal support, societal stigmatisation, cost of accessing services and health service factors like proximity to facility, facility navigation, waiting time and health care personnel attitude. Strategies for improving uptake and utilisation of cervical screening in SSA should focus on improving cervical health education, addressing cultural beliefs and practices and improving spousal support and empowering women, as well as addressing physical access problem, costs and improving staff attitude.

Knowledge and Utilization of Cervical Screening among Female Health Workers in Jos University Teaching Hospital and the role of the Gynaecologist in screening

Background: Cervical carcinoma is a preventable women killer disease and the knowledge and utilization of cervical screening is very important in its prevention. Aims: The aim is to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of JUTH female health workers to cervical screening, as well as the role of the gynaecologist in referral for screening tests. Study design and Methods : A cross-sectional study of the female health workers in JUTH was carried out using a stratified sampling technique and the same proportion of the various cadres were sampled using a structured questionnaire, and the results were analysed. Results: A total of 200 women were recruited, and 93.5% said they knew about Pap smear but only 56.5% knew what it was actually meant for and 19% of the study had done Pap smear in the past. There was no reason given in 59% of the subjects for not carrying out a Pap smear, while 19.5% gave non physician referral as reason. Among the 38 women who had had a Pap smear, 36.8% had done it more than 2 years previously. A total of 104 women visited gynaecologists at various times, but only 15.4% were asked to have a Pap smear. Conclusion: The knowledge and utilization of Pap smear is poor and the gynaecologists have many missed opportunities for Opportunistic Pap smear. Keywords: Female health worker, gynaecologist, Pap smear, cervical screening.

Characteristics of Women Reporting Cervical Screening

The characteristics of women reporting cervical cytology screening has been evaluated using data from control subjects collected in the framework of a case-control study on invasive cervical cancer conducted since 1981 in the greater Milan area. A total of 515 women admitted for nonneoplastic, nongynecologic, nonendocrine-related acute conditions to a network of general and university hospitals were interviewed. The frequency of cervical screening utilization decreased with age: regular screening (greater than or equal to 3 lifetime Pap smears) was reported by 46% of women aged 44 years or less, but only 11% of those aged 65 or more. Married women reported about 50% more frequently occasional (1 or 2) and about three times regular (greater than or equal to 3) cervical screening than unmarried ones. Parous women were more frequently screened, but no trend emerged with number of births. Similarly number of medical consultations in the year before the interview was associated with an increased number of Pap smears. There was no consistent association between number or recency of Pap smears and smoking, sexual habits or education, but women in low social classes tended to be less frequently screened. Ever contraceptive users (oral contraceptives or barrier methods) reported an increased probability to be screened regularly and within two years before the interview.

Pattern of cervical screening utilization in Italy.

The pattern of cervical screening utilization in Italy was analyzed using data from the 1986-1987 National Health Survey on the basis of a sample of 27,455 women aged 20 to 79 randomly selected within strata of municipality of residence and age in order to be representative of the whole Italian population. Overall, about 17% of women aged 20 to 79 were screened per year, for a total of 3.5 to 4 million cervical smears per year. The highest frequency was reported in younger middle age, about one in four women being screened per year in the age groups 30 to 49, and there was a substantial decline above age 50. Cervical smear rates were higher in Northern areas (22%), where mortality from cervical cancer is lower, than in the Centre (16%) and South (11%) of the country. Further, there was a strong positive social class gradient in the utilization of cervical screening, in relation to both education and occupation. In spite of the absence of any organised mass screening program, cervical screening is a relatively common procedure among Italian women. However, this study provides further quantitative evidence of a markedly irrational utilization of non-organized cervical screening, which tends to end up selectively used by the groups in which cervical cancer is less common.