Cervical cancer attitudes and beliefs-a Cape Town community responds on World Cancer Day.
BACKGROUND
Attitudes and beliefs affect women's cervical cancer screening behavior. Methods. We surveyed 228 women in Cape Town, South Africa about their screening history, knowledge, beliefs, and access barriers regarding Papanicolaou (Pap) smears and cervical cancer.


RESULTS
More than half of the participants had never had a Pap smear or had 1 more than 10 years ago. One third did not know what a Pap smear was. Lengthy wait times and fatalistic beliefs also affected screening behavior. Ethnicity was associated with differences in beliefs.


CONCLUSIONS
Opportunistic cancer screening events are an effective way that women can obtain Pap smears and cancer education.
Center for Reducing Health Disparities, MetroHealth Medical Center, R213, 2500 MetroHealth Drive, Cleveland, OH 44109-1998, USA. maghboeba.mosavel@case.edu
Maghboeba
M
Mosavel
Christian
C
Simon
Catherine
C
Oakar
Salome
S
Meyer
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult