Female healthcare professionals’ knowledge and attitudes regarding gynaecological disease screening in the context of public health

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the attitudes and knowledge of female healthcare professionals regarding the prevention of gynaecological diseases.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional stratified study was conducted in August 2022, on the subject. A total of 208 female healthcare professionals in Greece participated. The "Knowledge and attitudes of women regarding Sexually Transmitted Diseases, sexual health and preventive controls" questionnaire validated for Greece was used, through Google forms. Statistical analysis was performed with the IBM SPSS Statistics Version 26, with the x2 test, Kruskal-Wallis test with Bonferroni correction and the Cramer's V test, Shapiro-Wilk normality test and linear regression analysis with clustered bootstrapping sampling.Results: Sample's mean age was 45.28 (10.65) years old. More than half of the sample (55.3%, n=115) had higher education degree. Seven out of ten participants stated that they have preventive check-ups every 2-3 years. Overall the participants had a satisfactory level of knowledge, scoring 0.82 in the questionnaire used. Age and level of education (R=0.282 and R2=0.079, respectively with p=0.033, DW=2.140) were the two statistically significant independent variables that affected the total score of the questionnaire. Older participants had better knowledge as well as those with higher educational level.Conclusions: Age and level of education were directly related to the formation of knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals regarding gynaecological diseases. So information and education on the issue should be included in the nursing schools curricula and in the early professional stages aiming at achieving higher level of knowledge later on.