| Literature DB >> 27149525 |
Leith León-Maldonado1,2, Emily Wentzell3, Brandon Brown4, Betania Allen-Leigh2, Leticia Torres-Ibarra2, Jorge Salmerón2,5, Deborah L Billings6, James F Thrasher2,6, Eduardo Lazcano-Ponce2.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: HPV infection causes cervical cancer, a major contributor to morbidity and mortality among low-income Mexican women. Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing is now a primary screening strategy in Mexico's early cervical cancer detection program (ECDP). Research on Mexican women's perceptions of HPV and testing is necessary for establishing culturally appropriate protocols and educational materials. Here, we explore perceptions about HPV and HPV-related risk factors among low-income Mexican ECDP participants.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2016 PMID: 27149525 PMCID: PMC4858263 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153367
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Semi-structured interview questions.
| Why did you decide to get the HPV test? |
| Why did you think it was necessary to do it? |
| Would you recommend the HPV test to a friend, relative or neighbor? Why? |
| In your view, why do women need to get the HPV test? |
| How would you convince someone to get the HPV test? What would you say to motivate her? |
| Does a woman’s partner influence her decision to get these tests? How and why? |
| Why do you think that women don’t get the HPV test? |
| How was getting the results? What did they (health professionals) tell you? |
| Did they explain the results in a way that was easy to understand? |
| What else would you have liked them to explain? |
| Could you ask questions? Did you ask any questions? |
| Do you still have questions? |
| Can you think of anything you would have liked to ask? |
| How did you feel while getting the results? |
| Was there anything you didn’t like when they gave you your results? Anything you did like? |
| What does the HPV result you got mean to you? What does positive or negative mean? |
| Would you like to receive information on that topic? How would you like to receive that information? |
| Is it worth it to have a cervical cancer screening test? Why? |
| What would you have liked to be different? |
| Did they give you the Pap (cervical cytology) and the HPV test? |
| How often do you get a Pap test? Where do you get it? |
| Which did you like better, the HPV test or the Pap? |
| If you could choose between the HPV and Pap test, which would you get? Why? |
| What didn’t you like about that test? |
| Do you think there are differences between the tests? What are the differences? |
| When they did the Pap test, did anything worry you? How did you feel, during the test? And when you received the results? |
| And now that they did the HPV test, has anything worried you? |
| Which women do you think should worry about the Pap test? Which women should have it done? |
| Which women do you think should worry about the HPV test? Which women should have it done? |
| Do you think that women’s sex live have anything to do with whether they need cervical cancer detection tests? With needing the Pap? With needing the HPV test? |
| What should they do to encourage women to come get the HPV test? |
| What could they do here in the unit to make it easier for women to get the HPV test? |
| What could they do here in the unit to make your next HPV test experience better? What could they do to make it easier for you next time? |
| Is there anything that I haven’t asked that you would like to share? |
Fig 1Beliefs, perceptions and behavior regarding HPV infection among low-income Mexican women.
HPV = human papillomavirus, STI = sexually transmitted infection, HIV = human immunodeficiency virus.
Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of participants.
| Characteristics | Participants | |
|---|---|---|
| Chilchota (n = 12) | Morelia (n = 12) | |
| 30–39 | 1 | 6 |
| 40–49 | 9 | 2 |
| 50–59 | 0 | 4 |
| 60–64 | 1 | 0 |
| ≥65 | 1 | 0 |
| None | 1 | 0 |
| <6 | 6 | 3 |
| 6 | 4 | 5 |
| ≥7 | 1 | 4 |
| Single | 0 | 1 |
| Married/Cohabitating | 10 | 9 |
| Divorced/separated/widowed | 2 | 2 |
| Housewife | 4 | 8 |
| Business employee | 5 | 5 |
| Housekeeper | 0 | 1 |
| Independent vendor | 3 | 0 |
| Yes | 11 | 0 |
| No | 1 | 12 |
| Yes | 12 | 7 |
| No | 0 | 5 |
| 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1–3 | 3 | 6 |
| 4–6 | 6 | 5 |
| ≥7 | 2 | 1 |
| Positive | 6 | 0 |
| Negative | 6 | 12 |
Key themes.
| Theme | Subtheme | Example |
|---|---|---|
| “I don’t know what this disease is, I’ve just seen on TV that it affects many women, but I don’t understand how or what it does” | ||
| Wanting doctors “to explain clearly what exactly the human papillomavirus is, because people don’t really know what the human papillomavirus is, including me” | ||
| “What do I have? Is it serious? I was scared and I thought it will probably be serious, who knows what will happen…They gave me the positive result…I think it’s probably serious” | ||
| People with HPV “feel really sick, sometimes they bleed, sometimes they itch or they feel bad” | ||
| “I’ve only heard on TV that that people who have [HPV]…they get cancer in their uterus and they die” | ||
| HPV is “like AIDS or something…“causes warts and infections and all that, it worried me and I said to myself that I would get [screened] when I saw [the sign publicizing HPV testing]” | ||
| The participant usually did not “relate the Pap test with death,” but said HPV screening made her think “that it might be AIDS or, I don’t know, I might be really sick” | ||
| “I felt bad…I felt fear that they’d tell me I had cancer or something in my uterus…they say that’s really dangerous and that’s why I was scared” | ||
| “I’m just a little scared…because we don’t know what to do with this [positive test result] or where they’ll send me…I want to know, what is this and where did it come from?” | ||
| “No, I didn’t like it [HPV testing]… It made me feel embarrassed” | ||
| “There are people who don’t like to go [to the clinic] to get the tests…it isn’t pleasant but it’s necessary… [Women don’t come] because they’re embarrassed, more than anything because in those [rural] places there’s lots of people who it really embarrasses…I’m not sure if it’s because of fear or shame, they don’t want to go … it could be because of ignorance, lots of ignorance.” | ||
| Wanting doctor to explain, “Am I ok? Or, what’s going on, because I don’t know how to read…or write…and I can’t speak well in Spanish. I want to know what’s going on…Am I well or sick?” | ||
| “I would rather that they hurt me, to take care of my health.” | ||
| Woman was told simply “…that the result isn’t good, that we have to do it again…I don’t understand it” | ||
| Woman said she felt fear about the HPV test but not the Pap test, because “In that one [the Pap] no paperwork came but with this one [the HPV test] a paper arrived.” | ||
| Told at colposcopy “Not to be scared…that it wasn’t cancer or anything serious, but we would have to see how another test came out that we would do another time…Every three years we do the Pap test” | ||
| “There are women who don’t have husbands…Sometimes you go with men because, well, the body needs these things, to have sex with a man…[but this creates risk because] You don’t know what kind of person they are” | ||
| “I’ve had various partners because I’m separated” but heard that HPV risk was “related to the partners that one has had” | ||
| “I was expecting something bad to come of [my husband’s infidelity]… because I don’t have confidence in my partner… that he’s going to give me an infection or something like that” | ||
| “…before there weren’t so many diseases and women didn’t do these tests, but now the situation has changed. I think there’s more dirtiness [suciedad] in men, so there are more sicknesses in women and we have to get treated early” | ||
| You can get HPV “from public bathrooms, or from a husband who goes around with other women” | ||
| “I have a sister who came down with human papillomavirus and it got me thinking, and that’s why I decided to get tested. Having a family history. Now I know it’s transmitted by your husband, but you can also inherit it” | ||
| “I’ve only had one partner, my husband, but he’s been gone a long time. It’s been almost six and a half years since I’ve had sex.” So, she attributed her HPV positivity to “family history.” |