Knowledge and Awareness about Cervical Cancer and Human Papillomavirus among Women Living in Macon County, Alabama

In Alabama, despite the high screening rates for cervical cancer in Blacks, they still have higher mortality rates compared to Whites. Our objective was to increase knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer with the intention to encourage more women to have Pap tests, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) tests and HPV vaccinations after a short-term educational-based intervention. Pre and post questionnaires were administered to collect data before and after a primary educational intervention in Macon County was taught by a team of experts in the subject area. Descriptive statistics were done using SAS software to generate frequency and chi-square tests. Out of the 100 participants: 9% had cervical cancer; 86% were Blacks; about 65% were over the age of 35 and earned less than $50,000/year; 62% lived in the Tuskegee community; 34% were students, staff or faculty of Tuskegee University; about 25% were either married or living with their partner; leaving about 75% of the women as single, divorced or widowed; and more than 80% were students between their first year of college and graduate school with only 40% working for pay. The short-term educational intervention increased participants' knowledge of: who knew what cervical cancer was; ever heard of HPV; and ever had an HPV-test by margins of 9%, 23% and 4% respectively. Participants who had ever heard of Pap test had the same knowledge of 97% before and after the intervention. There was a significant knowledge level increased: in understanding that cervical cancer was caused by 38% HPV infection; 39% of all HPV infections lead to cervical cancer; and cervical cancer has decreased in recent years by 50%. Significant differences were observed only among participants who had ever heard of Pap test before and after the educational intervention with p-values of 0.004 and 0.03 respectively, compared to participants who knew what cervical cancer was and who had ever heard of HPV test. Although some participants lacked knowledge in certain areas, this study showed an apparent increase in their knowledge and awareness following the educational intervention.