Knowledge, Attitude & Practice towards Cervical Cancer Screening among Women Globally - A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Cervical Cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer among women worldwide. Around 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed every year out of which 270,000 women die in developing countries. It is an issue of significant public health concern. Objective: To review the knowledge, attitude & practice towards cervical cancer screening among women globally. Methodology: Literature search was done on electronic databases including PubMed and Google scholar for articles published between 2013 to March 2020. Keywords used for the search were (cervical cancer screening) (knowledge) (attitude) (practice). A total of 17 studies were included in the review based on eligibility criteria. The articles included were specific to English language. Result: A total of 17 studies were included in the review with a total of 6158 women aged between 15-70 years having varied levels of knowledge, attitude & practice towards cervical cancer screening. 42.22% women had knowledge about the screening process. The source of information was friends & family (26.70%), media (15.92%), health professionals (12.35%). More than half of the participants showed positive attitude towards the cervical cancer screening (59.97%). Only 13.26% had undergone the cervical cancer screening. Most common reason for not undergoing screening was no signs & symptoms (32.78%) followed by no knowledge (28.21%). Conclusion: There is a dire need to generate awareness and formulate plans for implementation of screening programs in the most cost effective and feasible way, ensuring maximum community participation.