title: Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding cervical cancer screening among village health volunteers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the years 2014, coverage rates of cervical cancer screening in Nakornnayok province accounted to 76.5%. This was lower than the government's specified goal of 80%. Community health volunteers are members of a Thai healthcare alliance established to help promoting healthcare service communication and collaboration at the primary level. Such village health volunteers (VHVs) are established in most villages.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the knowledge and attitudes of cervical cancer screening among VHVs.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects were 128 VHVs from four Nakornnayok sub-districts; namely KlongYai, Chomphol, Buangsan and Suksara, Thailand. The study was conducted from December 2014 to January 2015. The questionnaire was designed to assess the knowledge and attitude of cervical cancer screening provided by the VHVs. In addition, cervical cancer screening coverage rates of each area were collected. The demographic data, scores of knowledge, attitudes, practices and the cervical cancer screening coverage rates were analyzed by one-way ANOVA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The questionnaire reliability was assessed as 0.81. The total knowledge and attitude scores were 10 and 15 points. The mean knowledge scores of KlongYai, Chomphol, Buangsan and Suksara were 6.8, 7.0, 6.5 and 9.0 points, respectively. The VHVs had a high level of overall knowledge about cervical cancer screening. The mean attitude scores were 12.4, 13.2, 13.4 and 13.1 points. VHVs had a positive attitude to the promotion of cervical cancer screening at the overall level. The percentages of VHVs promoting cervical cancer information in respective districts were 72.2, 94.3, 94.9 and 50.0. However, the cervical cancer screening coverage rates were 62.4%, 34.7%, 80.3% and 47.3% respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The knowledge, attitudes and percentages of promoting information of cervical cancer screening among VHVs in the four sub-districts were high but did not correlate with the cervical screening coverage rates for each area. VHVs needed to understand socio-cultural beliefs of the women in the target population and design suitable strategies to encourage higher cervical screening coverage.
authors: Gynaecologic Oncology Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakornnayok, Thailand E-mail : khunnuyai@hotmail.com.
authors: Siriwan
authors: S
authors: Srisuwan
authors: Pawin
authors: P
authors: Puapornpong
authors: Supattra
authors: S
authors: Srisuwan
authors: Kornkarn
authors: K
authors: Bhamarapravatana
authors: Komsun
authors: K
authors: Suwannarurk
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies / Q000379:methods; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D064368:Healthy Volunteers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test / Q000379:methods; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013785:Thailand; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000379:methods