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Cervical Cancer Prevention: Screening Among Undocumented Hispanic Women Compared With Documented Hispanic Women.
- Source :
-
Journal of lower genital tract disease [J Low Genit Tract Dis] 2021 Apr 01; Vol. 25 (2), pp. 86-91. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Objective: This study compared cervical cancer knowledge, screening practices, and barriers to screening among undocumented and documented Hispanic women.<br />Materials and Methods: An anonymous cross-sectional survey was administered to self-identifying Hispanic women older than 21 years at community-based clinics and health care-focused community sites in Rhode Island. The survey included demographics, immigration status, questions related to cervical cancer knowledge, screening practices, and barriers to screening. Participants were stratified based on their immigration status. Categorical variables were compared by χ2 or Fisher exact test. Knowledge scores and the number of barriers were compared by t test and Wilcoxon rank sum test, respectively. p values of less than .05 were considered statistically significant.<br />Results: Seventy-three undocumented women and 70 documented women were enrolled. Undocumented women had a significantly lower mean cervical cancer knowledge score (3.53, SD =1.97) compared with documented women (4.43, SD = 2.04; p = .0085) and also experienced more barriers to having cervical cytology or a human papillomavirus test (p = .001). Eighty-eight percent of the undocumented women and 47% of the documented women did not have health insurance (p < .0001). Sixty-two percent of the undocumented women felt that their lack of documentation was a barrier to cervical cancer screening. Fifty percent of the undocumented and 47% of the documented women had never heard of the human papillomavirus vaccine.<br />Conclusions: Undocumented women have significantly lower mean cervical cancer knowledge scores compared with documented women. A lack of legal documentation is a significant barrier to cervical cancer screening among Hispanic women. Challenges inherent to being undocumented may contribute to women's lower knowledge scores and more pronounced barriers.<br />Competing Interests: The authors have declared they have no conflicts of interest.<br /> (Copyright © 2021, ASCCP.)
- Subjects :
- Adult
Female
Health Services Accessibility
Humans
Insurance, Health
Middle Aged
Patient Acceptance of Health Care psychology
Patient Acceptance of Health Care statistics & numerical data
Rhode Island
Surveys and Questionnaires
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms
Vaginal Smears
Young Adult
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Hispanic or Latino psychology
Hispanic or Latino statistics & numerical data
Papanicolaou Test psychology
Papanicolaou Test statistics & numerical data
Undocumented Immigrants statistics & numerical data
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1526-0976
- Volume :
- 25
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of lower genital tract disease
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 33395153
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1097/LGT.0000000000000587