Women's knowledge and experience of cervical screening: a failure of health education and medical organization.

A survey of the knowledge of and attitudes towards cervical cytology screening in various locations in Tower Hamlets showed that 77 per cent of women in the sample reported that they had a smear test, and 86 per cent knew about them, although a small group of active elderly were unlikely to know much about the test or to have had one. Only 11 per cent of the 600 women under 65 understood that cervical cytology was to prevent cancer, whereas 71 per cent thought that it was to detect cancer. Of the 205 women who recalled their experience of the test, all had some difficulty. Two-thirds were embarrassed, and 54 per cent had pain or discomfort, which included all those women who did not feel embarrassed. Forty-three per cent had been informed of the result of their tests and about one-quarter of those took steps to get the result. Seventy-one per cent of the women had had their first test done before the age of 35, but only 9 per cent after the age of 45. A quarter of those screened had only had one test done. The women considered that more publicity about the test, the knowledge that a woman doctor would do the test, and more encouragement by health professionals would be improvements most likely to increase the uptake of screening. The possibility of a service offering immediate results should be explored by means of a pilot study.