Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of women considering cervical cancer screening.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 Saudi women aged 18-49 years who visited medical facilities. Data collection was conducted using a self-reported questionnaire collecting sociodemographic factors, knowledge, attitude, and practice. This was conducted by trained female health care assistants collecting the data using personal interviews.
Results: The average age of the participants was 31.4 ± 8.2 years, where most of the participants were married (78.2%), had a college degree (54.5%), and were unemployed (58.3%). Considering awareness, 42.4% and 57.1% were aware of the Pap smear test and heard of cervical cancer. In general, the included women reported low knowledge of risk factors and symptoms, where 36.7% and 17.8% of them named HPV as risk factors and knew the correct age to begin screening. Main barriers against screening included shame (36.8%), anxiety or discomfort (40.1%), and absence of female physicians (31.4%). In addition, only 19.9% of the participants reported having a Pap smear, where the most common mentioned reasons for non-participation were ignorance (44.8%) and lack of symptoms (31.5%). Better knowledge and attitude were significantly associated with higher education (p

Key words: Knowledge, attitude, practice, cervical cancer screening, reproductive age women, Saudi Arabia.