Abstract
Abstract Background: Cervical cancer is a malignant disease arising from cells originating in the cervix. It is a preventable disease if a suitable prophylactic plans and proper screening are followed. Healthcare professionals with sufficient knowledge can play important role in raising awareness of the population in a confident approach. Therefore, the present study was aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare professionals among cervical cancer and screening at main hospitals in Tripoli city. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted during February to March, 2018. Data were collected using a self- administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included two sections on demographic characteristic and, to test knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding cervical cancer and its screening. Results. The mean age of participants was 32.58.2years. About 33.5% of participants were physicians, 21.6% were pharmacists, and 28.4% were nurses. Of the total subjects, 57.9% reported were married for > 5 years. Knowledge of cervical cancer was significantly associated with education, profession and parity (p<0.001). The meanknowledge score was 5.05 (range 0-7). A total of 347 participants had heard of cervical cancer, and 50.3% knew that Pap test is useful for the detection of cervical cancer. But, only 14.1% of respondents stated undergone Pap smear tested. The foremost cited reasons for not having Pap test comprised “never thought I needed one” (42.4%). Only 1.1% reported cervical cancer is sexually transmitted disease and 7.6% stated multiple sexual partners’ exposure woman to risk for cervical cancer. Conclusions. These findings indicate that healthcare professionals have fair knowledge of cervical cancer. So, the present study stressedthe needs to spread awareness among all healthcare workers. It further encourages for formal educational programs for the healthcare professionals to update their knowledge about the riskfactors of cervical cancer.