Knowledge, Attitude and Utilization of Cervical Cancer Screening Services among Ethnic Minority Female Students in a UK University: A Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Cervical cancer is the most frequent cancer among ethnic minority women and the most prevalent cause of cancer mortality in the UK. Furthermore, women from ethnic minority origins are more likely than British women not to carry out cervical screening due to socioeconomic issues such as lack of health insurance, language barrier and poor understanding of cervical cancer screening.

Good knowledge and a positive attitude towards receiving a cervical cancer screening are significant factors in the prevention and better outcome of cervical cancer. The study assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of cervical cancer screening among ethnic minority female students in the Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing (FEHW), at UK University.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May, 2023 to September, 2023 on a sample of 138 ethnic minority female students in the Faculty of Education and Health & Wellbeing (FEHW), aged between 25 and 64 years, from four departments (Public Health, Health and Social care, Health and wellbeing and Occupational psychology) using a simple random sampling technique. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS for descriptive analysis.

Results: In the 138 participants, a mean age was 35.09 ± 12.92 years and 56.7% were African, 21.0% Asia, 17.4% Bangladesh and 5.1% Caribbean. 82.6% of them have a good knowledge of cervical cancer screening. However, a substantial number (54%) of them had negative attitudes towards cervical cancer screening services which led to a low screening rate. Additionally, most of the participants 47.8% admitted embarrassment and fear as a barrier to preventing cervical cancer screening services while 78.3% of the participants have not carried out cervical cancer screening practices.

Conclusion: Ethnic minority female students in the UK had good knowledge of cervical cancer screening. However, the negative attitude and barriers encountered by the ethnic minority female students led to poor practice in the utilization of cervical cancer screening services.