Cancer

Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening among Sub-Saharan African Immigrant Women in the United States: A Qualitative Report

An Open Access article published in the Health Behavior and Policy Review Journal.

Authors:

Ann O. Amuta-Jimenez, PhD
Itunu O. Sokale, MD, DrPH
Lorraine R. Reitzel, PhD

Objective:

Cervical cancer screening can prevent women across all age groups from developing cervical cancer (CC). However, Sub-Saharan African immigrant women (SAIW) sparsely engage in routine CC screening. Thus, developing prevention strategies to improve SAIW’s adherence to recommended CC screening guidelines is critical. To ensure that such strategies are successful, they must meet the needs of the target population. By conducting qualitative interviews with SAIW (N = 15), we aimed to get a deeper understanding of barriers to CC screening receipt.

Methods:

We asked SAIW about barriers to CC screening and possible ideas to facilitate their future screening behavior.

Results:

Our findings revealed that SAIW are especially affected by several major barriers: lack of awareness of CC guidelines, fear/fatalism, lack of resources (eg, a lack of time due to job and family commitment), other resource-related barriers (eg, unreliable mode of transport, and no health insurance), modesty, and overt bias. Participants indicated a preference for female healthcare providers for CC screening and suggested spousal involvement in CC intervention development to foster support.

Conclusions:

The identification of multi-level barriers indicates that multiple strategies are needed to improve the uptake of CC screening among SAIW.

Source: Health Behavior and Policy Review, Volume 10, Number 5, October 2023, pp. 1-8(8)
Publisher: Paris Scholar Publishing Ltd.
Article Link: https://doi.org/10.14485/HBPR.10.5.1

2024-01-12T10:19:49-07:00December 10th, 2023|Cancer, Immigration Health, Women's Health|

Rural Cancer and the Opioid Epidemic: Are Screening Disparities Further Exacerbated?

An Open Access article published in the Health Behavior and Policy Review Journal.
The full article is available as a PDF download.

Authors:

Minjee Lee, PhD, MPH
Georgia Mueller-Luckey, PhD, MS
Yamile Molina, PhD, MPH
Jennifer K. Rose, MD
Rebecca Bolinski, MA
Brent Van Ham, MS, RN, CRC, CADC
Eric Adjei Boakye, PhD, MA
Wiley D. Jenkins, PhD, MPH

Objective:

Rural areas experience significant disparities in cancer incidence and mortality and are also disproportionately impacted by the drug use epidemic. People who use drugs (PWUDs) frequently experience healthcare-associated stigma sufficient to cause avoidance of all non-urgent care. Research associated with cancer risk and screening utilization among rural PWUDs is nearly nonexistent.

Methods:

We searched PubMed for articles describing rural healthcare access and cancer disparities, and drug use and healthcare-associated stigma.

Results:

Rural populations frequently experience increased rates of circumstances and behaviors associated with increased cancer risk, morbidity, and mortality, but also lesser access to and use of healthcare. Rural areas have been disproportionately impacted by many types of drug use, and the stigma PWUDs frequently encounter leads to deferred care and poorer health outcomes. The limited data suggest that PWUDs experience at least equal cancer risk as their non-PWUD peers but obtain screening less often. Whereas interventions to increase medical care engagement among PWUDs have succeeded, none has explored cancer risk and screening.

Conclusions:

Although there are mechanisms to increase cancer screening in rural areas, and methods to increase healthcare engagement for PWUDs, re- search should combine these evidence-based practices to explore implementation in this population with distinct risk profiles.

Source: Health Behavior and Policy Review, Volume 9, Number 5, September 2022, pp. 1037-1043(7)
Publisher: Paris Scholar Publishing Ltd.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14485/HBPR.9.5.3

2022-11-11T16:02:16-07:00November 11th, 2022|Cancer, Substance Use|
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