title: Young people's knowledge of the cervical smear test.
abstract: A sample of three hundred and forty-eight 16 and 17-year-old students (120 boys and 228 girls) on a range of vocational courses were asked a number of questions about the cervical smear test in October 1980. 10% of the boys and 27% of the girls selected "smear" as a word they would associate with cancer, but only 3.3% of the boys and 9.2% of the girls mentioned the cervical smear test as a preventive measure. Approximately a quarter of the students considered cervical cancer to be usually curable with early treatment, and the majority considered it to be rarely curable with late treatment. 38% of the boys and 64% of the girls had heard of the cervical smear test and the doctor, clinic, family planning clinic and hospital were suggested as places where the smear is available. 9% of the girls said they had had a smear test. These results were used as a baseline for the designing of suitable teaching material.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D012042:Registries; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D014626:Vaginal Smears