Open AccessImmigrant women's experiences and views on the prevention of cervical cancer: a qualitative study
Author(s) -
Grandahl Maria,
Tydén Tanja,
Gottvall Maria,
Westerling Ragnar,
Oscarsson Marie
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
health expectations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.314
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1369-7625
pISSN - 1369-6513
DOI - 10.1111/hex.12034
Subject(s) - cervical cancer , health care , qualitative research , medicine , immigration , focus group , health belief model , exploratory research , family medicine , cervical screening , condom , vaccination , nursing , cancer , health education , public health , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , sociology , political science , social science , syphilis , anthropology , law , immunology
Background Many W estern countries have cervical cancer screening programmes and have implemented nation‐wide human papillomavirus ( HPV ) vaccination programmes for preventing cervical cancer. Objective To explore immigrant women's experiences and views on the prevention of cervical cancer, screening, HPV vaccination and condom use. Design An exploratory qualitative study. The H ealth B elief M odel ( HBM ) was used as a theoretical framework. Setting and participants Eight focus group interviews, 5–8 women in each group (average number 6,5), were conducted with 50 women aged 18–54, who studied S wedish for immigrants. Data were analysed by latent content analysis. Results Four themes emerged: (i) deprioritization of women's health in home countries, (ii) positive attitude towards the availability of women's health care in S weden, (iii) positive and negative attitudes towards HPV vaccination, and (iv) communication barriers limit health care access. Even though the women were positive to the prevention of cervical cancer, several barriers were identified: difficulties in contacting health care due to language problems, limited knowledge regarding the relation between sexual transmission of HPV and cervical cancer, culturally determined gender roles and the fact that many of the women were not used to regular health check‐ups. Conclusion The women wanted to participate in cervical cancer prevention programmes and would accept HPV vaccination for their daughters, but expressed difficulties in understanding information from health‐care providers. Therefore, information needs to be in different languages and provided through different sources. Health‐care professionals should also consider immigrant women's difficulties concerning cultural norms and pay attention to their experiences.