"It is what I tell her that she will do": a mixed methods study of married men's knowledge and attitude towards supporting their wives' cervical cancer screening in rural South-East Nigeria.
Introduction
cervical cancer is a leading cause of death among Nigerian women. Women often require spousal support before attending cervical cancer screening services. This study assessed married men´s knowledge and attitude towards male involvement in cervical cancer screening of their wives.


Methods
a cross-sectional study using a mixed methods approach was conducted among 245 married men in Izzi, Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, South-East Nigeria. Quantitative data collected using structured, interviewer-administered questionnaires and qualitative data from focus group discussions were triangulated. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS version 20. Qualitative findings were analysed using thematic analysis.


Results
the mean knowledge of cervical cancer was 2.06±0.55. Only 2.9% of the respondents had adequate knowledge of risk factors for cervical cancer. Up to 89.8% were willing to approve screening for their spouses. Majority (76.3%) considered screening important in cervical cancer prevention, while 91.4% were willing to pay for the screening test. Most of them exhibited patriarchal tendencies and insisted that their wives must obtain their consent before screening as depicted by the statement "It is what I tell her that she will do". Previous spousal screening was a predictor of good knowledge (OR = 10.94, 95% CI = 2.44-48.93; P=0.002).


Conclusion
married men in this study had poor knowledge of cervical cancer. However, they were willing to support cervical cancer screening conditional on their pre-information and consent. Awareness creation activities on cervical cancer screening should incorporate active engagement of husbands in order to promote screening uptake by their wives.
['Okedo-Alex|Ijeoma Nkem|IN|', 'Uneke|Chigozie Jesse|CJ|', 'Uro-Chukwu|Henry Chukwuemeka|HC|', 'Akamike|Ifeyinwa Chizoba|IC|', 'Chukwu|Onyedikachi Echefu|OE|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D001294:Attitude to Health D003142:Communication D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D055088:Early Detection of Cancer D005191:Family Characteristics D005260:Female D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice D006801:Humans D007398:Interpersonal Relations D008297:Male D008393:Marriage D008875:Middle Aged D009549:Nigeria D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care D010358:Patient Participation D011368:Professional-Family Relations D000072858:Psychosocial Support Systems D012424:Rural Population D018454:Spouses D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D020458:Third-Party Consent D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms
married men knowledge Attitude cervical cancer screening Nigeria male involvement