Document Detail


Adolescent and young adult women's misunderstanding of the term Pap smear.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  15466684     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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.
Authors:
Diane R Blake; Brittany M Weber; Kenneth E Fletcher
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine     Volume:  158     ISSN:  1072-4710     ISO Abbreviation:  Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med     Publication Date:  2004 Oct 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2004-10-06     Completed Date:  2004-11-08     Revised Date:  2007-11-15    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9422751     Medline TA:  Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  966-70     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
Departments of Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester 01655, USA. Diane.Blake@umassmed.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior
Adult
Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia / prevention & control*
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
Humans
Linear Models
Mass Screening
Multivariate Analysis
Patient Compliance
Population Surveillance
Questionnaires
Sensitivity and Specificity
Sexually Transmitted Diseases / prevention & control
Terminology as Topic*
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / prevention & control*
Vaginal Smears / methods,  statistics & numerical data*
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
5 K23 AI01750/AI/NIAID NIH HHS
Comments/Corrections
Comment In:
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005 Apr;159(4):400; author reply 400   [PMID:  15809400 ]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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