OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between the levels of Papanicolaou (Pap) test and cervical cancer knowledge with fear, stress, or shame related to these. DESIGN: A simple random sample of all households within the community was conducted. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A survery was administered to women in a low socioeconomic community of Lima, Peru. Chisquare analysis, odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to measure association of the variables studied with fear, stress, or shame. Logistic regression was used to control for confounding variables. RESULTS: From 300 women interviewed ages between 18 and 50, 20% had their last Pap test over two years and another 20% had never had a Pap smear. Nineteen percent (57) of women reported a high level of lear, stress or shame to the Pap test and cervical cancer, all associated to adolescence (OR 5,5 CI95% 1,8 16,9), living in Lima 5 y...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between the levels of Papanicolaou (Pap) test and cervical cancer knowledge with fear, stress, or shame related to these. DESIGN: A simple random sample of all households within the community was conducted. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A survery was administered to women in a low socioeconomic community of Lima, Peru. Chisquare analysis, odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to measure association of the variables studied with fear, stress, or shame. Logistic regression was used to control for confounding variables. RESULTS: From 300 women interviewed ages between 18 and 50, 20% had their last Pap test over two years and another 20% had never had a Pap smear. Nineteen percent (57) of women reported a high level of lear, stress or shame to the Pap test and cervical cancer, all associated to adolescence (OR 5,5 CI95% 1,8 16,9), living in Lima 5 y...