ABSTRACT
Cervical cancer is one of the major non-communicable public health problems among women globally and is an extremely preventable and curable disease with early detection and treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and acceptance of cervical cancer screening among female undergraduate students in faculty of art, University of Benin, Benin City. Three research questions were raised to guide the study while one research hypothesis was put forth. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was adopted in this study and the study’s population comprised of 1857 female undergraduate students in faculty of art, University of Benin, Benin City. The proportionate sampling technique was used as the sampling technique to sample 362 female undergraduate students in four selected departments of faculty of art, University of Benin, Benin City. A self-structured questionnaire was used to get data from the respondents, which was validated by the researcher’s supervisor. The instrument yielded reliability scores of 0.79, 0.76, and 0.75 for sections B, C, and D subscales respectively. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data obtained while Chi-Square statistics was used to test the stated hypothesis of the study. Results of this study revealed that majority (48.5%) of female undergraduate students in this study have poor knowledge of cervical cancer screening, with majority displaying negative attitude towards cervical cancer screening. It was established that there is a low level of acceptance of cervical cancer screening among the female undergraduate students in faculty of art, University of Benin, Benin City. The study concluded that female undergraduate students in faculty of art, University of Benin, Benin City have inadequate knowledge of cervical cancer screening and there is need to promote awareness among them.. The study further recommended that federal government agencies like the Fedral Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Health should collaborate on making cervical cancer screening centers to be available for students in University of Benin, Benin City. Also, large-scale educational and awareness programmes should encourage participation in cervical cancer screening among students by considering the use of close peers and friends to educate the students on the importance of screening program. Keywords: cervical cancer, cervical cancer screening, female undergraduate students.
