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Hindi Research Article
Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening in Arba Minch Town, Southern Ethiopia: A Qualitative Study
Gebru Z1, Gerbaba M2 and Dirar A2*1Arba Minch College of Health science, Arba Minch, Ethiopia
2Department of Population and Family Health, College of Health Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia
- *Corresponding Author:
- Anteneh Dirar
Department of Population and Family Health
College of Health Sciences, Jimma University
Jimma, Ethiopia
Email: antenehaliyu@gmail.com
Received date: December 31, 2015 Accepted date: February 18, 2016 Published date: February 29, 2016
Citation: Gebru Z, Gerbaba M, Dirar A (2016) Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening in Arba Minch Town, Southern Ethiopia: A Qualitative Study. J Community Med Health 6:401. doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000401
Copyright: © 2016 Gebru Z, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Over the years perception and uptake of cervical cancer screening services has remained poor in developing countries including Ethiopia. Data on barriers of Ethiopian women regarding cervical cancer is lacking.
Objective: This study sought to explore barriers to utilization of cervical cancer screening in Arba Minch town, Southern Ethiopia.
Methods: A qualitative research study using in-depth interviews was conducted. The in-depth interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were analyzed into themes.
Result: The respondents had low awareness of cervical cancer and were not utilizing the services. There was also a lack of understanding of risk factors for cervical cancer. The major factors identified by the women that influence screening utilization were lack of knowledge about the need for cervical screening, fatalistic attitudes about cervical cancer and other aspects of health, low perceived susceptibility, having many contending issues, financial constraint, and emotional barriers (fear of having a positive result, embarrassment and anticipated shame).
Conclusion: This study provides enormous data on the multifaceted reasons why women do not utilize cervical cancer screening. Interventions are required to alleviate the barriers through using simple and cost effective programs that could have a great impact.
