Dados do Resumo

Título

Cervical cancer: knowledge of riverside women about preventive measures

Introdução

Among malignant neoplasms, cervical cancer (CC) is an important public health concern, being one of the main causes of death among women, especially in developing countries and among vulnerable groups. It is characterized by the abnormal growth of cells, generated especially by persistent infection with oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV). Among the ways to prevent HPV infection and, consequently, the risks of becoming ill from CC, using condoms and anti-HPV vaccination stand out.

Objetivo

To analyze riverside women’s knowledge about preventive measures against cervical cancer and its influence on the adoption of these measures.

Métodos

This study used a descriptive, qualitative design, carried out with 20 riverside women at the Municipal Health Unit on the island of Cotijuba, municipality of Belém, state of Pará, Brazil. Data were produced from April to July 2023, through individual interviews with a semi-structured script, consisting of questions to understand participant sociodemographic characteristics and explore their subjectivities regarding the object of study. This study was approved by the Universidade do Estado do Pará Undergraduate Nursing Course Research Ethics Committee (REC), under Opinion 5.865.620. Descriptive statistical analysis of sociodemographic data was carried out. Subjective data were transcribed to form a text corpus, subjected to lexical processing and analysis with Interface de R pour les Analyzes Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires(IRaMuTeQ®), version 0.7, alpha 2.

Resultados

Among the participants, ages ranged from 23 to 64 years old and the age group of 40 to 64 years old prevailed (n = 11; 55%). After using the software, we identified 262 text segments, using 222 (84.73% of the corpus), generating six lexical classes, organized into three thematic axes. These axes demonstrate riverside women’s perceptions, behaviors and access to information regarding cervical cancer as well as their knowledge about preventive measures, the human papillomavirus and its relationship with this type of cancer. The results of this study demonstrate that, although women recognized the severity of CC, they had limitations in describing its basic characteristics, demonstrating a deficient level of knowledge regarding the disease and the adoption of preventive measures. In view of this, it is important that women understand aspects related to preventive measures, having a positive impact on their health.

Conclusões

This study analyzed the knowledge of riverside women about CC and disease prevention measures, identifying gaps in this knowledge. Considering the importance of health professionals, this knowledge can give them the opportunity to rethink and redirect strategies, especially regarding educational actions with vulnerable groups, such as riverside populations. Therefore, the results can be an incentive to deepen evidence on the knowledge and practices of riverside women about CC.

Palavras Chave

Uterine Cervical Neoplasms; Primary Prevention; Rural Population