Abstract:

Introduction: Cervical cancer is one of the preventable health conditions and the most common genital system cancer following endometrial adenocarcinoma. The study aims to determine the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of women towards early diagnosis of cervical cancer. Materials and Methods: This study was descriptive in natüre conducted on women who presented to primary health care institutions in between January- March 2017. A total of 300 married women constituted the study population and were administered the questionnaire on “Information Collecting Form” and “The Scale of Attitudes towards Early Detection of Cervical Cancer” (SAEDCC) were used for data collection. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 35.25 ± 9.04, 42.0% of women have taken Pap smear test and 32.0% have taken the regular gynaecological examination. There was a significant association between the educational groups in terms of pap smear seriousness, barriers and benefits points (P<0.05). It was found that, the status of knowledge about Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which is one of the factors causing cervical cancer, symptoms of cervical cancer, and protection methods against cervical cancer affected behaviour for having pap smear test, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: The knowledge and applications of women towards early diagnosis of cervical cancer were insufficient. Women should, therefore, be trained about early diagnosis of cervical cancer by public health nurses, gained healthcare behaviour about early diagnosis applications, these applications should become widespread, and the continuity should be provided.