Abstract
Cervical cancer incidence continues to rise in Ghana. To enhance knowledge and prevention of cervical cancer among young people in Ghana, there is a need to better understand their education preferences. The study aimed to describe female senior school students’ preferences for receiving cervical cancer education. A cross-sectional survey of students from 17 schools in the Ashanti Region of Ghana assessed the strength of preference for receiving cervical cancer education from a range of sources, settings and delivery mediums. Of the 2400 participants (aged 16–24 years), the majority endorsed doctors (87%, 95%CI: 85–88%), nurses (80%, 95%CI: 78–82%) and credible health organisations (78%, 95%CI%: 76–79%) as their preferred source of education, and hospitals 83% (95%CI: 81–84%) as the preferred setting. Nearly all students (92%) endorsed at least three cervical cancer education delivery mediums, with at least three quarters endorsing television (78%, 95%CI: 77–80%), one-on-one health consultation in-person or online (77%, 95%CI: 75–79%; 75%, 95%CI: 73–77%), and health information websites (75%, 95%CI: 73–77%). Findings suggest that cervical cancer education efforts among female senior school students in Ghana should consider the use of a range of more resource-intensive individualised approaches to low-cost anonymous, generic approaches from credible sources and institutions.