The relationship between women's cervical cancer risk status and risk perception and their cervical cancer screenings

Aim: In this study, it was aimed to determine the relationship between women's cervical cancer risk status and risk perceptions and cervical cancer screening. Method: This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted with 600 participants aged 30-65 years, who met the study criteria and were registered to Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine Education Family Health Centers in April 2021. As data collection tools were used, "Sociodemographic and Health Characteristics Data Form" prepared by the researcher by scanning the literature, which includes questions about the demographic information and risk factors of the participants, and "Cervical Cancer and Pap Smear Test Health Belief Model Scale" to evaluate women's health beliefs about cervical cancer and their attitudes and behaviors towards screening. In the analysis and evaluation of research data IBM SPSS (The Statistical Package for Social Sciences) 24.0 was utilised and chi-square, t-test, correlation, and ANOVA test were conducted. P-value <0.05 was accepted statistically significant. Findings: İt was found that, the mean age of the women participants in the study was 43.59±10.03; most of the women who had screening was between the ages of 41-55 (36.6%); 86.2% of them knew about cervical cancer screening methods (Pap smear, HPV etc.); 71.2% of them had cervical cancer screening. It was found that 72.3% of women perceived the individual risk perception of cervical cancer as medium, 20% as low and 7.7% as high. The results of the study showed that women who have had screening have a higher individual risk of cervical cancer; on the other hand, those who do not have screening perceive their risk at a low level; those with a high total risk score (7.46±2.29) had more screening than those with a low-risk score (6.78±2.48). There was no statistically significant difference between the total risk score and the individual risk perception of cervical cancer (p>0.326). İt was found that, the mean score of all sub-items of the Cervical Cancer and Pap Smear Test Health Belief Scale was high (respectively 34.09±5.84; 24.40±5.98; 8.26±2.42; 9.22±3.20) woman who have been screened; the mean score of perception of disability was high (41.23±9.65) woman who did not scan. İt was found that, women with a high perception of individual risk have a high mean score of benefit and motivation, care/severity, sensitivity and health motivation (respectively 36.04±4.2; 35.43±11.69; 27.63±5.79; 10.2±2.64); women with low risk perception had a high mean score of disability perception (10.21±3.22). Results: In the study, it was found that, significant differences between women's cervical cancer risk factors and individual risk perception and the status of having cervical screening.