Adolescent and young adult women's misunderstanding of the term Pap smear
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2004-10-07Keywords
AdolescentAdolescent Behavior
Adult
Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia
Female
*Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Linear Models
Mass Screening
Multivariate Analysis
Patient Compliance
Population Surveillance
Questionnaires
Sensitivity and Specificity
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
*Terminology as Topic
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms
Vaginal Smears
Life Sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences
Pediatrics
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To learn more about young women's understanding of the term Pap smear. DESIGN: Self-administered survey. SETTING: UMass Memorial Adolescent Clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Female patients 14 years or older (and their mothers when available) who visited the clinic between June 10 and August 9, 2002. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Accuracy of participants' written definition for the term Pap smear and knowledge that a "Pap smear" is a test for cervical cancer and not synonymous with a pelvic examination, sexually transmitted disease test, pregnancy test, or checkup. RESULTS: Three (2.7%) of the 111 adolescent participants provided an accurate definition of the term Pap smear. Sixty-eight percent mistakenly believed that a Pap smear was the same as a pelvic examination. Age, history of sexual intercourse, and having had a Pap smear correlated with a better Pap smear definition rating. CONCLUSIONS: Remarkably few patients who participated in this study understood the meaning of the term Pap smear. Confusion about gynecologic terms may hinder efforts to enhance compliance with sexually transmitted disease and cervical cancer screening. Educational initiatives are needed to improve young people's comprehension and to prevent misunderstandings about gynecologic care and miscommunication between patients and their health care providers.Source
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004 Oct;158(10):966-70. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1001/archpedi.158.10.966Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/39642PubMed ID
15466684Related Resources
Link to article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1001/archpedi.158.10.966