Encouraging women to do cervical cancer screening: a secondary preventive intervention with a multitude of behavioural dimensions

• Published in: Evidence-based nursing Vol. 25; no. 4; p. 125
• Main Authors: Moradi, Saivash, Taherinezhad Ledari, Ali
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and RCN Publishing Company Ltd 01.10.2022; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Cervical cancer; Commentary; Disease prevention; Health behavior; Health education; Health promotion; Medical screening; Pap smear; Prevention; Womens health
• ISSN: 1367-6539; 1468-9618; 1468-9618
• DOI: 10.1136/ebnurs-2021-103510

Context International Agency for Research on Cancer estimated that 6.5% of the new cases of cancer among women of all age groups originates from cervix uteri.1 According to the last report, cervical cancer with an age-standardised incidence rate of 13.3 per 100 000 is the fourth most common cancer of females.1 Cervical cancer screening for early detection and timely treatment of precancerous lesions along with human papillomavirus vaccination will prevent most cervical cancer cases.2 Women’s willingness to be screened for cervical cancer is a topic that has been the subject of much research and over the past two decades, three systematic review (SR) studies3–5 have been published under one heading: [...]informed uptake of cervical screening was not considered by any studies. [...]the authors of this SR concluded that with the exception of invitational interventions (with a risk ratio of 1.71), the effectiveness of other interventions could not be commented on with certainty.