Knowledge and behavior of woman in Governador Valadares in relation to cervical cancer and its preventive examination

• Autor(a) principal: Ferreira Milholo, Sarah
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Ferreira de Souza, Dyennyfer, Rodrigues Moreira, Michel
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: HU Revista (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufjf.br/index.php/hurevista/article/view/40304
• topic: Uterine Cervical Neoplams; Papanicolaou Test; Human Papilomavirus; Neoplasias Uterinas; Colo do Útero; Teste de Papanicolaou

Introduction: Cervical cancer is a serious public health problem, but it can be prevented by vaccination, screening and treatment of precursor lesions. Objective: To verify the knowledge and behavior of a percentage of women from Governador Valadares, with regard to cervical cancer and its preventive examination, in order to improve their perception in relation to the forms of prevention and the frequency with which they undergo the  exam, in addition to detecting possible difficulties in carrying it out. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from September/2019 to February/2020, when women over 18 years old were invited, randomly, in public places, to answer a structured questionnaire. CEP/UFJF opinion number: 3.407.390. Results: 202 women were interviewed and 7,9% of them did not know what cervical canceris, which can be avoided (10,9%) or its relationship with HPV infection (38,1%). In addition, 6,4% of them had never heard of the preventive exam and 25,7% had never taken it, with carelessness (17,3%), shame (12,9%) and lack of tima (7,9%) main reasons. The majority (48,4%) of the women who had already taken the test had done so less than a year ago and 49,5% said they felt more comfortable when the collector was a woman. For 49% a self collection system would increase the possibility of performing the exam regularty. Approximately a quarter of the participants are unware of the existence of a vaccine against PV and more than half of them are unaware that it only protects agains the four most common types. Conclusion: A significant number of women had unsatisfactory knowledge about cervical cancer and its prevention, which impacts on their adherence to screening practices and justifies the investiment in health education actions.