Women's perspectives on illness when being screened for cervical cancer

Abstract

BackgroundIn Greenland, the incidence of cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) is 25 per 100,000 women; 2.5 times the Danish rate. In Greenland, the disease is most frequent among women aged 30–40. Systematic screening can identify women with cervical cell changes, which if untreated may cause cervical cancer. In 2007, less than 40% of eligible women in Greenland participated in screening.ObjectiveTo examine Greenlandic women's perception of disease, their understanding of the connection between HPV and cervical cancer, and the knowledge that they deem necessary to decide whether to participate in cervical cancer screening.Study designThe methods used to perform this research were 2 focus-group interviews with 5 Danish-speaking women and 2 individual interviews with Greenlandic-speaking women. The analysis involved a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach with 3 levels of analysis: naive reading, structural analysis and critical interpretation.ResultsThese revealed that women were unprepared for screening results showing cervical cell changes, since they had no symptoms. When diagnosed, participants believed that they had early-stage cancer, leading to feelings of vulnerability and an increased need to care for themselves. Later on, an understanding of HPV as the basis for diagnosis and the realization that disease might not be accompanied by symptoms developed. The outcome for participants was a life experience, which they used to encourage others to participate in screening and to suggest ways that information about screening and HPV might reach a wider Greenlandic population.ConclusionWomen living through the process of cervical disease, treatment and follow-up develop knowledge about HPV, cervical cell changes, cervical disease and their connection, which, if used to inform cervical screening programmes, will improve the quality of information about HPV, cervical cancer and screening participation. This includes that verbal and written information given at the point of screening and diagnosis needs to be complemented by visual imagery.

Illness Perception, Knowledge and Self-Care about Cervical Cancer

“…The result altered by tracing is not always coupled to a good understanding by the woman of what cervical cell changes mean (Hounsgaard, Augustussen, Moller, Bradley, & Moller, 2013). In this study, although the participants perceive the UCC as a disease with serious consequences, their individual risk perception was not compatible with these data.…”

Exploring the Impact of Individual Factors in Taking Cervical Cancer Screening: A Content Analysis

“…However the most important risk factor for cervical cancer is infection by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) but none of the interviewed women were aware of the connection between HPV, change of cells in cervix, and cervical cancer. This result is consistent with Wong et al (2009) and Hounsgaard et al (2013) study results, while different from that of Guilfoyle et al (2007) and Nene et al (2007) results.…”

Health care informational challenges for women diagnosed with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: a qualitative study

“…Internationally, researchers have shown that health care informational challenges for women diagnosed with CIN limit their ability to self-care [3, 4] and lead to several negative psychological effects [5, 6]. Women with CIN lack knowledge about their condition [3, 5, 7, 8] and experience anxiety [3, 9], fear of cancer [3, 10, 11], guilt, shame and feelings of stigmatization [12], and they also have problems in their social [13, 14] and intimate relationships [11, 14]. Researchers have also shown that there is no adequate flow of information between health care providers and patients [7, 9, 11] and that health care providers have knowledge gaps about infection, testing and HPV vaccination [15].…”