Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 1;22(1):1467.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13874-7.

Experiences of women awaiting cervical CANCER screening results from selected hospitals in Accra, Ghana

Evans Appiah Osei  1 , Stella Appiah  2 , Ezekiel Oti-Boadi  3 , Dorothy Hammond  4 , Dorothy Baffour Awuah  5 , Awube Menlah  6 , Isabella Garti  7 , Michael Baidoo  8
Affiliations

Experiences of women awaiting cervical CANCER screening results from selected hospitals in Accra, Ghana

Evans Appiah Osei et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: The rate at which cervical cancer is diagnosed among women worldwide is alarming, nevertheless, millions of women have never undergone cervical cancer screening, and many more with cervical cancer die prematurely without accessibility to quality healthcare or effective treatment. Women's experiences following cervical cancer screening have not been extensively studied especially in advancing countries like Ghana. Hence, the researchers aim to explore the experiences of women awaiting cervical cancer results at selected hospitals in Accra.

Methods: An exploratory-descriptive qualitative design was adopted to purposively sample 48 participants engaged in face-face in-depth interviews, which were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim after. The interviews were guided by semi-structured interviews.

Findings: The findings revealed 3 themes and 10 subthemes. The themes were pre-screening experience, intra-screening experience, and post-screening experience. Participants narrated the challenges they face before the screening, during the screening, and as they waited for their results to get ready. Despite some challenges reported, most of the participants indicated that they were willing to come for a retesting if recommended.

Conclusion: In conclusion, participants who have undergone CCS have several experiences that may either motivate or discourage them from subsequent screening. Being aware of such experiences could help the nurses address them in order to increase the interest of the women in CCS.

Keywords: Awaiting; Cervical cancer; Experiences; Screening; Women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no competing interests that may hinder the publication of this study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Themes, Emerging Themes and Sub-Themes
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Ali F, Kuelker R, Wassie B. Understanding cervical cancer in the context of developing countries. Annals of Tropical Medicine & Public. Health. 2012;5(1).
    1. Akinyemiju TF. Socio-economic and health access determinants of breast and cervical cancer screening in low-income countries: analysis of the world health survey. PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e48834. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048834. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. White MC, Shoemaker ML, Benard VB. Cervical cancer screening and incidence by age: unmet needs near and after the stopping age for screening. Am J Prev Med. 2017;53(3):392–395. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2017.02.024. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Innocentia Ebu N, Mupepi SC, Peter Siakwa M, Sampselle CM. Knowledge, practice, and barriers toward cervical cancer screening in Elmina. Southern Ghana. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Binka C, Doku DT, Awusabo-Asare K. Experiences of cervical cancer patients in rural Ghana: an exploratory study. PLoS One. 2017;12(10):e0185829. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185829. - DOI - PMC - PubMed