Effectiveness of a Structured Teaching Programme on Knowledge Regarding Cervical Cancer among Women in Selected Wards of Malampuzha Panchayat at Palakkad District, Kerala

Globally cervical cancer ranks as the second most cancer in women and is one of leading causes of cancer related deaths for women in developed nations. The progression from normal cervical cells to dysplasia and then invasive cervical cancer appears to be related to repeated injuries to the cervix. The progression occurs slowly over years. A strong relationship exists between dysplasia and HPV infection. This study is aimed to assess the knowledge regarding cervical cancer among women in selected wards of Malampuzha Panchayat at Palakkad district, Kerala, with the objectives to assess the existing knowledge of women regarding cervical cancer, to develop and implement a structured teaching programme on cervical cancer, to assess the effect of structured teaching programme on cervical cancer and to find out the association between pre-test knowledge score on cervical cancer with selected demographic variables. The study adopted an one group pre-test– post-test design, and 60 samples were recruited by using a convenient sampling technique, followed by a structured questionnaire was used to collect the data prior to the structured teaching programme, given to the research participants and the post test was done after a period of one week. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study reveals pre-test assessment shows that 51.67% respondents had poor knowledge and 48.33% of the population had average knowledge. After education, Post-test assessment shows that no subjects have poor knowledge, 48.33%have average knowledge and 51.67% have good knowledge regarding cervical cancer. The mean post-test knowledge score (22%) of the subjects was higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score (9%) and the study was significant (t=33.59 p<0.05). There was a significant association between the pre-test knowledge scores and demographic variable on occupation.