title: The effect of 'Alma's' death on women attending for a cervical smear: a questionnaire survey.
abstract: Following a story line in Coronation Street in which 'Alma' died of cervical cancer there was a large increase in the number of cervical smears taken in Manchester. To ascertain the extent to which women were influenced to attend for smears by this story line and why, we carried out a postal survey. Our results show that women were influenced to attend for smears (22 per cent) with many women doing so because the story line made them worry. Television influenced screening behaviour but it must be of concern to health promoters that this was done through the generation of anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Manchester Primary Care Trust, 1st Floor, Home 4, Withington Hospital, Nell Lane, West Didsbury M20 2LR.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: Vicci
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Owen-Smith
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Howe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004324:Drama; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*