Abstract

The burden of cervical cancer among women has become a health and economic challenge globally. Preventive measure through adoption of preventive health behaviour is a way and the focus of many policies including the millennium development goals. This study accessed the awareness of cervical cancer and analyzed the factors influencing the adoption of preventive health behaviour (through participation in cervical cancer screening) among women in shagamu metropolis of Ogun state. The data for the study was obtained from 100 women purposively selected. Information collected included socio-economic characteristics, attitudinal and perception variables. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive result showed that respondents had an average age of 32 years, average of 12 years of education, 54% were married, 54% were aware of cervical cancer especially via the mass media (59%) and religious centres (52%). The majority of the women have poor perception of the disease even though 51% perceived that it is preventable and 68% believed that regular screening can reduce risk of infection. However, only 38% of the respondents participated in screening. Poor awareness, cost of health care services and lack of time to go for the screening process were the limiting factors identified by the majority of the respondents for participating in screening. Respondents’ educational level, family history of infection, marital status, previous experience with cancer or STDs, awareness and access to information via mass media, healthcare service centres, religious centres, community organization or clubs and participation in organized seminars or workshops on cervical cancer positively influenced their participation in screening while the nature of their occupation negatively influenced their participation. The study shows that, in order to facilitate women participation in screening, there is a need for reproductive health education and aggressive programmes to increase level of awareness of cervical cancer especially among young women of reproductive age. Labour health policy facilitating female salaried or clerical workers’ participation in cervical screening. Furthermore effective transmission of information on cervical cancer and control should take advantage of the mass media, healthcare centres and religious centres especially churches in the study area.