Attitudes and beliefs of women about the factors responsible for the development of cervical carcinoma

Abstract

Background: To determine the level of knowledge among women about factors responsible for the development of cervix carcinoma and the necessity of education and health promotion. Methods: Three groups of women were interviewed according to measuring instruments by the specially created questionnaire for this research. The statistically significant difference in answers was determined by the ANOVA test. Results: In most of the investigated factors (7 of 11) statistically significant differences in answers were observed among the groups. Only six participants in all groups indicated human papillomavirus as the factor responsible for the development of cervix carcinoma. Conclusion: In all three groups of the interviewed women, bacterial and viral causes of the disease were highly ranked in comparison to other risk factors. Only a small number of participants indicated human papillomavirus as an etiological factor. There is need to improve the knowledge about risk factors through health promotion and health education in order to change the epidemiological situation concerning cervical carcinoma. © 2011, Oncology Institute of Vojvodina, Sremska Kamenica.