Barriers to the Cervical Cancer Screening in the Northern Slovakia

Abstract Background A barrier to screening is a specific attitude, opinion or state that prevents the patient from seeking preventive care. The aim of this study was to identify and compare barriers to cervical cancer screening (CCS) in Northern Slovakia between women seeking and not seeking CCS. Methods Data collection was performed in twenty gynaecological departments, each department sending data from five healthy women and five untreated women with cervical cancer. Women completed a validated and standardized questionnaire with 28 statements (the CPC-28 questionnaire: “Creencias, Papanicolaou, Cancer-28” questionaire – Beliefs about Papanicolaou and Cervical Cancer). A four-point Likert scale (item score from 1 to 4) was used to assess responses. A linear transformation was made to calculate the responses. Differences with a p value of < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results From the 200 questionnaires, 135 (67.5%) participants were divided into the women seeking CCS (n = 97) and the women not seeking CCS (n = 38). The women not seeking CCS vs seeking CCS had higher barriers according to the CPC-28 domain one (median; interquartile range: 33.33; 28.70-40.74 vs 14.82; 7.41–29.63; p < 0.001). The risk of not seeking CCS was statistically significant in non-working (OR; 95% CI: 2.458; 1.127–5.358; p < 0.024), non-childbearing women (OR; 95% CI: 3.302; 1.421–7.671; p < 0.006) and women without cervical cancer (OR; 95% CI: 4.709; 1.960-11.317; p < 0.001). Conclusion We identified barriers to cervical cancer screening in both of our groups but the results were more frequent and statistically significant in the women not seeking CCS.