| dc.description.abstract | Cervical cancer is as a result of Human Papilloma Virus, which is transmitted through sexual intercourse, in most cases the male is a career of the pailloma virus that infects and generates in females. Despite the risks of the HPV virus both males and females are hardly aware of the virus and the risks it carries, Roland et al (2009).
The objective of this study was to establish the influence of health seeking behavior on the uptake of cervical cancer screening services among women Aged 18-49 in Kamwenge district.
A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted. This kind of design involves observing, describing and documenting the behaviour of subjects without influencing it in any way. The target study population for this study comprised of women, aged between 18 years to 49 years in Kamwenge district.
The sampling procedure that was used by this study is both probability and non-probability sampling. The district (Kamwenge) was selected by purposive sampling because it was used as one of the pilot districts for rolling out the cervical cancer vaccination and screening tests by STRIDES under USAID, while simple random sampling was used to select respondents at household level. Structured interviews were conducted with structured questionnaires; Key informant interview guides were used to collect qualitative data.
About 277(72.1%) had ever heard of cervical cancer screening mostly on radio with 146(52.7%)responses. About 265 (69%) of the women of had a positive perception that they were susceptible to cervical cancer, 181 (47.1%) of them perceived cervical cancer as being severe, while 73.4% of the women perceived that the cervical cancer screening was beneficial. Perceived susceptibility and perceived benefits had an association with utilization of cervical screening while perceived severity have no association with utilization of CCS. The population of women in Kamwenge district had positive perceptions about cervical cancer more so in terms of susceptibility, and the benefits of the cervical cancer screening services. Given that women perceived themselves at risk of cervical cancer and that there was an association between susceptibility and uptake of CCS services, it would be to the benefit of the population in Kamwenge district if more health education was carried out to enhance women’s understanding of the mode of transmission, signs and symptoms, benefits of screening and early detection. | en_US |
