Awareness and Attitudes of Nursing Students towards Prevention of Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is the second most common women cancer worldwide, accounting for 13% of female cancers. It ranks as the second most frequent cancer among women after breast cancer in Sudan as well as other developing countries. This study seeks to assess the knowledge, and the attitude of female staff and students of undergraduate nursing students of Khartoum universities, Sudan, towards cervical cancer prevention. A structured interview questionnaire was used for data collection; the questions were made to capture the objectives of the study. Most of the students (84.0%) were not aware of other screening methods than Pap smear test and the burden of cervical cancer and its prevention (p = 0.000). Approximately half of the respondents (49.9%) have no complete information about the HPV vaccine. However, the other half showed positive attitudes towards HPV vaccination and were eager to recommend HPV vaccine to their family and other members of the community. More than two thirds of respondents exhibited positive attitude and were willing to undergo Pap smear in the future. The study shows that the majority of the participants have poor information about cervical cancer prevention. Education would motivate nurses to participate actively in awareness raising, screening, and management.