CERVICAL CANCER: KNOWLEDGE AND SELF-EFFICACY AMONG SAUDI WOMEN AT NAJRAN CITY

Background: Cervical cancer remains to be a major global health problem towards women. In 2010 cervical cancer was the fifth most fatal cancer in women. Cervical cancer is a preventable disease and one of the key aspects of its prevention is the early detection of the premalignant lesion through the cervical screening measures.

Aim: evaluate knowledge, and self-efficacy regarding cervical cancer among Saudi women attending Primary Health centers in Njran city.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at two Primary Health Centers in Najran city. A convenience sample (N= 240) of Saudi women who attend to the selected primary health centers was included in the study. Data were collected  by using  self-administrated questionnaire involve three main parts; socio-demographic data, cervical cancer knowledge questionnaire, and self-efficacy scale.  

Results: The findings revealed that only14.2% of them had a previous history of Pap smear test. 55.4% of the women had poor knowledge regarding cervical cancer. Only 10.0% of them had good knowledge. Furthermore, 55.8% of them had moderate self-efficacy and 40.4% of them had a high self-efficacy.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that more than half of Saudi women in Najran have poor knowledge and moderate self-efficacy regarding cervical cancer. The majority of Saudi women had not been screened for cervical cancer. 

Key words: Cervical cancer, knowledge, self-efficacy, Saudi women.