Women's knowledge and attitudes towards cervical cancer prevention: A qualitative study in the Spanish context.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices related to cervical cancer and its prevention in Spain.

BACKGROUND

Worldwide, women's knowledge about cervical cancer is low, and their attitudes towards its prevention are good, but they do not correlate with the screening uptake. Although the rates of Spanish women performing cervical cancer screening are mostly acceptable, their knowledge and attitudes about it have not been explored.

DESIGN

Qualitative descriptive study.

METHODS

Three focus groups were conducted, with 21 women aged 25 to 65 years. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling. For intragroup homogeneity, women participated in age groups. The COREQ reporting guidelines were used.

RESULTS

Women expressed their knowledge about cervical cancer was low. None of the participants identified the human papillomavirus as a cause of cervical cancer, nor did they mention the vaccine as a preventive measure. They all knew about the screening existence, but not about its frequency nor target population. About the attitudes and practice, 18 women had an appropriate screening, and they were favourable to this health check, claiming an increase in its frequency. Nineteen women claimed they had not received enough information from the healthcare system and a lack of social awareness in comparison with breast cancer. They demanded from the professionals more health education, a reminder of their appointments and a report of the Pap test results.

CONCLUSIONS

There was a self-perceived low level of knowledge about cervical cancer risk factors and its prevention in the participants. However, they expressed favourable attitudes towards screening, and they demanded more information about cervical cancer and its prevention measures, and they regretted its low social awareness.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Midwives, general nurses and other nurse specialists may have a leading position in health education for cervical cancer prevention in different population levels.