Introduction: Cervical cancer is a preventable yet highly prevalent disease in Africa. Despite female adolescents and young women being a target group for cervical cancer prevention strategies, little research has examined their knowledge of how to prevent the disease. The study aimed to describe: (a) knowledge about cervical cancer prevention and (b) sociodemographic, social, and systemic factors associated with and interacting with knowledge among female senior high school students in Ghana.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey assessed knowledge about (a) risk factors and (b) primary and secondary prevention of cervical cancer among 2,400 female students from 17 public senior high schools in the Ashanti region, Ghana. Descriptive statistics were used to describe knowledge. Linear mixed-effects regression models were used to examine factors associated with knowledge scores.
Results: Knowledge gaps were observed for at least two-thirds (>65%) of students. Most students (mean age = 17) did not know that early sexual debut (before 18 years) is a risk factor for cervical cancer (72%) and that a blood test cannot detect cervical cancer (71%). Students in later stages of senior high school education and those who received sexual health education from teachers and parents had significantly greater cervical cancer knowledge scores than their counterparts. Interactive effects showed that school-based sexual health education was associated with higher knowledge scores than home-based education among students.
Conclusions: Most female senior high school students had gaps in knowledge about cervical cancer prevention. Finding new ways to strengthen the capacity of schools and parents to deliver accurate cervical cancer prevention information is warranted.
Keywords: cervical cancer; correlates; knowledge; prevalence; prevention; risk factors; students.