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investigator through personal interviews. Different types of gynecologic cancers were
estimated on a basis of 50, whereas total gynecologic cancer knowledge point was evaluated
on a basis of 250 points. Chi-square, Anova, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney U test and
Pearson correlation analysis were employed for statistical analysis.
It was determined that 57.1% of admitted patients had knowledge about gynecologic
cancer and 18% of them had periodical gynecologic examination. These rates were in order of
92.7% and 12.5% among healthcare staff. While 40.1% of admitted patients and 52.1% of
healthcare staff had at least one pap smear test before, 15.2% of admitted patients and 51.1%
of healthcare staff reported “knowledge about vulvar self-examination”. People who had both
these screening methods performed displayed higher knowledge levels. The rate of
participants who mentioned “adequate” level of knowledge about gynecologic cancers was
only 3.4%.
Age, contraceptive method and frequency of gynecological examination were found to
have no influence over the knowledge levels on gynecological cancer among the entire study
group, whereas the departments of the healthcare staff had affected levels of gynecological
cancer knowledge. Among the admitted patients knowledge levels were found to be higher as
their levels of income increased, but higher numbers of previous pregnancies and abortions
displayed a correlation with lower knowledge points. Married participants, university
graduates, civil servants, people with history of cancer in the family and members of
Retirement Fund were found to have higher knowledge levels.
In gynecological cancer subgroups, the knowledge points showed a rise as the age
increased, but dropped with the increases in the number of children, pregnancies, births and
abortions. The ages for first marriage and sexual intercourse were found to affect the
knowledge points for cervical, ovarian and endometrial cancers. Cervical and ovarian cancer
knowledge levels were found to be higher in patients who had performed pap smear test
before.
Key Words: Gynecologic cancer, knowledge, healthcare staff, pap smear, Human
Papilloma Vırus.
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