Perceived seriousness mediates the influence of cervical cancer knowledge on screening practices among female university students in Ghana

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer knowledge and awareness, as well as an individual’s perceptions about cervical cancer have been shown to significantly influence the screening practices of female students. Despite these studies, the mechanisms linking cervical cancer knowledge to screening practices among female students remain unexplored in the literature. Thus, this study examined the direct and indirect influences of cervical cancer knowledge on screening practices through perceptions about cervical cancer as informed by the health belief model. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design with a purposive sample of 200 female students were used in the study. Standardized questionnaires were used to measure cervical cancer knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived seriousness, perceived benefits, perceived barriers and cervical cancer screening behaviours. The Pearson product-moment correlation co-efficient and mediation analyses were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Our findings showed that cervical cancer knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived seriousness and perceived benefits were significant and positively correlated with increased screening behaviours. However, only perceived seriousness significantly mediated the relationship between cervical cancer knowledge and screening behaviour. Cervical cancer knowledge remained a significant direct predictor of screening behaviour in all the models. CONCLUSION: These findings underscore the need for increased awareness with emphasis on the seriousness of cervical cancer among female university students as it plays a key role in influencing their screening behaviours.