| dc.description.abstract | Cervical cancer is fourth most fatal and common disease globally among women of reproductive age with an estimate of over 570,000 new cases and more than 311,000 fatality cases. In Kenya, cervical cancer ranks the second most frequent type of cancer after breast cancer. Current estimates indicate that every year 5,236 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 3211 die from the disease. The prevalence stands at 13% in the general population. Due to high burden, cryotherapy services, which are effective for treatment of precancerous lesions are available in selected health facilities in Kenya, however, barriers to the treatment services are poorly understood. Nonetheless, an understanding of these barriers is critical for enhanced service delivery. The objective of this study was to determine the barriers to cryotherapy among women of reproductive age in Migosi Sub-County Hospital. A cross-sectional study design was carried out to determine the barriers to the cryotherapy services among 60 women on a one-year therapy at Migosi Sub County Hospital in Western Kenya. The participants were selected purposively and interviewed via telephone calls using pre-coded semi-structured questionnaires. However, data of 5 nurses working at the cryotherapy section were collected through face-to-face interviews at the health facility. Data was entered in an excel sheet then exported to SPSS version 23.0 for analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square) were used and data presented in form of tables. Overall, 52 (85.4%) respondents adhered to post care treatment instructions and reported no adverse reactions. However, 28 (46.7%) experienced unavailability of cryotherapy services at the time of the appointment and got the services later, 24 (40%) got the services at the time of the appointment but waited for a long time before being served, 37 (61.7%) did not know why they were being treated and 46 (76.7%) had misconceptions and myths about the therapy. In addition, there was a statistically significant association between knowing both the benefits of screening and cryotherapy [X2(1, N = 60) = 5.90, p = .02]. Also, the knowledge on the benefits of cryotherapy did not influence one’s decision to wait for cryotherapy treatment services, [X2(1, N = 60) = 3.98, p = .46]. The study showed a very good adherence to post treatment instruction but inadequate availability of cryotherapy treatment services and increased misconceptions and myths about cryotherapy. Therefore, the study recommends improved awareness campaigns and service delivery for the enhanced uptake of cryotherapy treatment services. | en |
