Nursing and Midwifery

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https://rscarchive.kuhes.ac.mw/handle/20.500.12988/356

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Browsing Nursing and Midwifery by Author "Katengeza, Kholiwe"

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    Assessing the knowledge and attitudes of University of Malawi female undergraduate students on cervical cancer screening
    (Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, 2021-01-05) Matola, Esmy; Kachitsamba, Yamikani; Katengeza, Kholiwe
    Cervical cancer is the 4th most common cancer among women worldwide[1]. Once diagnosed, about 80% of the women die prematurely. This is mostly because they present to the hospital very late when the cancer is in its advanced stage when there is nothing much that medical practitioners can do. These are deaths that could be avoided if women went for cervical cancer screening. There are so many reasons why women do not go for cervical cancer screening one of which is lack of knowledge about cervical cancer and screening. University female undergraduate students are at a risk of developing cervical cancer later on in their lives due to the various risk factors that they are exposed to. Some of them being multiple sexual partners and early sexual debut. College education in Malawi does not offer a greater access to health education specifically about cervical cancer to the female students. Therefore, there is little knowledge about cervical cancer which may have an impact on cervical cancer screening. This study aims to assess the knowledge and attitudes that these female university students have about cervical cancer and screening. This is going to be a cross sectional quantitative study targeting female undergraduate students in the University of Malawi (College of Medicine, Kamuzu College of nursing, Polytechnic and Chancellor College) aged 21 to 29. Data will be collected using self-administered questionnaires where the participants will fill and resubmit to the researchers. The expectation is that this study will reveal the different levels of knowledge that these university female undergraduate students have on cervical cancer , and screening. The reasons for the variation in the levels of knowledge will be fully understood during data analysis. Data will be presented in tables, pie charts and graphs.