title: Barriers to cervical cancer screening: a qualitative study with women in Serbia.
abstract: Serbia employs opportunistic approaches to cervical cancer screening, leading to inequitable health care access. To better understand the health care needs of women, we investigated their knowledge of and perceived barriers to cervical cancer screening. Data reported in the paper arise from nine focus group discussions with 62 women from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. They were recruited in two cities with contrasting social settings, Belgrade, the Serbian capital, and a regional town, Smederevo. Thematic analysis identified that the interplay of social and personal barriers influenced women's poor presentation for screening. Inadequate public health education, lack of patient-friendly health services, socio-cultural health beliefs, gender roles, and personal difficulties were the most salient barriers to screening. We suggest how within the context of opportunistic screening patient education may be employed. The introduction of compulsory cervical cancer screening, suggested by some participants, is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Key Centre for Women's Health in Society, School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. milicam@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Milica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Markovic
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kesic
authors.forename: Lidija
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Topic
authors.forename: Bojana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Matejic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006176:Gynecology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D019456:Health Transition; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011320:Primary Health Care; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015022:Yugoslavia