Assessing the Knowledge And Attitude On Cervical Cancer Among Middle Aged Women Who is Attending Opd in Aruppukkottai Government Hospital

Abstract

Cervical cancer accounts for about 20% of all cancer-related death in middle-aged women in India. Several factors contribute to the high burden of this disease. The most two important one included poor knowledge about the disease and lack of screening among general population. Therefore, a descriptive study was conducted among 50 middle-aged women who are attending the OPD (outpatient department) at Aruppukottai Government Hospital. Objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitude towards cervical cancer among the middle-aged women. The quantitative research approach was used for this study. The non-experimental descriptive research design was used for this study. The setting chosen for this study was Aruppukottai Government Hospital. The population of this study was women who are between the age group of 40 and 55 years. The sample consisted of 50 middle-aged women. Convenience sampling technique was used. Tool consisted of structured interview schedule with 25 questions and 5-point Likert scale was used to assess the knowledge and attitude of cervical cancer among middle-aged women. Results showed that 30 (60%) women are having inadequate knowledge, 19 (38%) women are having moderate knowledge, 1 (2%) women have adequate knowledge and 6 (12%) women are having neutral attitude, 44 (88%) women are having negative attitude and one is having positive attitude. The attained knowledge mean score was 11.46 with the standard deviation 3.24. The obtained attitude mean score was 1.34 with the standard deviation of 2.22. The obtained “r‘’ value was 0.914 which was moderately positive correlated and significant at 0.05 levels. The knowledge and attitude score had statistically significant relationship with demographic variables. It is referred that there is a significant relationship between knowledge and attitude of samples.