Cervical cancer screening: knowledge, attitude and practices among nursing staff in a tertiary level teaching institution of rural India.

BACKGROUND Assessment of the nursing staff knowledge, attitude and practices about cervical cancer screening in a tertiary care teaching institute of rural India. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross sectional, descriptive, interview- based survey was conducted with a pretested questionnaire among 262 staff nurses of a tertiary care teaching and research institute. RESULTS In this study 77% respondents knew that Pap smear is used for detection of cervical cancer, but less than half knew that Pap smear can detect even precancerous lesions of cervix. Only 23.4% knew human papilloma virus infection as a risk factor. Only 26.7% of the respondents were judged as having adequate knowledge based on scores allotted for questions evaluating knowledge about cervical cancer and screening. Only 17 (7%) of the staff nurses had themselves been screened by Pap smear, while 85% had never taken a Pap smear of a patient. Adequate knowledge of cervical cancer and screening, higher parity and age >30 years were significantly associated with self screening for cervical cancer. Most nurses held a view that Pap test is a doctor procedure, and nearly 90% of nurses had never referred a patient for Pap testing. CONCLUSIONS The majority of nursing staff in rural India may have inadequate knowledge about cervical cancer screening, and their attitude and practices towards cervical cancer screening could not be termed positive.