title: Knowledge and attitudes regarding cervical cancer screening among women with physical disabilities living in the community.
abstract: The study aims to explore knowledge and attitudes regarding cervical cancer screening and to examine its determinants based on the perspectives of Taiwanese women with physical disabilities living in the community. A cross-sectional survey was employed in the study, and we recruited 498 women aged more than 15 years who were officially registered as having physical disabilities in Taipei County, Taiwan, in March 2009. A mail-out structured questionnaire designed to collect data concerning the participants' demographics, reported use, health experience and perception (understanding and attitudes) of cervical cancer screening among women with physical disabilities. We used a scoring system (range 0-10) to categorize the study subjects' awareness of screening (low vs. high). The results showed that 77.3% of subjects reported a low level of awareness (score < [double bond] 7), whereas 22.7% were in the high awareness level group (score > 7). The logistic regression model revealed that married women (OR = 3.30, 95%CI = 1.25-8.71), those with a higher educational level (OR = 2.88, 95%CI=1.51-5.53), and those with a high familiarity with Pap smear resources (OR = 5.31, 95%CI = 2.82-9.98) had a significantly higher perception level of cervical cancer screening among women with physical disabilities. This study highlights the necessity of increasing the knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer screening and reducing the barriers to cervical cancer screening experienced by women with disabilities.
authors: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors: Li-Wei
authors: LW
authors: Wu
authors: Lan-Ping
authors: LP
authors: Lin
authors: Si-Fan
authors: SF
authors: Chen
authors: Shang-Wei
authors: SW
authors: Hsu
authors: Ching-Hui
authors: CH
authors: Loh
authors: Chia-Ling
authors: CL
authors: Wu
authors: Jin-Ding
authors: JD
authors: Lin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data