TY - JOUR
T1 - Women's critical experiences with the pap smear for the development of cervical cancer screening devices
AU - Arrivillaga, Marcela
AU - Bermúdez, Paula C.
AU - García-Cifuentes, Juan Pablo
AU - Rodríguez-López, Mérida
AU - Neira, Daniela
AU - Vargas-Cardona, Hernán Darío
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - Global cervical cancer incidence and mortality have remained a major public health problem. Depending on the quality and coverage of preventive programs, and the capacity of health care systems, different screening tests are used, with the Pap smear being the most widely implemented. Several difficulties have been reported in accessing timely detection, causing late cervical cancer diagnosis. Trying to close these gaps, new screening devices have been developed in recent years; however, there is a lack of knowledge about whether or not women perspective has been included in the design process and technological development of these devices. This scoping review aimed to describe and synthesize scientific literature on women's critical experiences with Pap smears to prospectively contribute to the design, development, and scale-up of cervical cancer screening devices. The electronic databases Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, PsycINFO and SciELO were searched for relevant studies published between 2012 and 2021; finally, 18 qualitative studies were included. Experiences were classified into four categories: fear and embarrassment, speculum pain and discomfort, outcome distress and health service barriers. Critical experiences before, during, and after the test were analyzed in turn. In particular, during the test, women reported pain associated with the use of the speculum. The acceptability of new screening devices will largely depend on comfort during the test and timely delivery of results. This review provides a useful qualitative synthesis, not only to advance the design of novel devices but also for future implementation research in cervical screening services.
AB - Global cervical cancer incidence and mortality have remained a major public health problem. Depending on the quality and coverage of preventive programs, and the capacity of health care systems, different screening tests are used, with the Pap smear being the most widely implemented. Several difficulties have been reported in accessing timely detection, causing late cervical cancer diagnosis. Trying to close these gaps, new screening devices have been developed in recent years; however, there is a lack of knowledge about whether or not women perspective has been included in the design process and technological development of these devices. This scoping review aimed to describe and synthesize scientific literature on women's critical experiences with Pap smears to prospectively contribute to the design, development, and scale-up of cervical cancer screening devices. The electronic databases Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, PsycINFO and SciELO were searched for relevant studies published between 2012 and 2021; finally, 18 qualitative studies were included. Experiences were classified into four categories: fear and embarrassment, speculum pain and discomfort, outcome distress and health service barriers. Critical experiences before, during, and after the test were analyzed in turn. In particular, during the test, women reported pain associated with the use of the speculum. The acceptability of new screening devices will largely depend on comfort during the test and timely delivery of results. This review provides a useful qualitative synthesis, not only to advance the design of novel devices but also for future implementation research in cervical screening services.
KW - Access to health care
KW - Cancer
KW - Medical technology
KW - Psychosocial aspects
KW - Screening and prevention
KW - Women's health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149620138&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14289
DO - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14289
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85149620138
SN - 2405-8440
VL - 9
JO - Heliyon
JF - Heliyon
IS - 3
M1 - e14289
ER -