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Beliefs About the Pap Smear Among Mexican Immigrants

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Abstract

Few studies have examined Latinos’ beliefs about the Pap smear or what uses they attribute to the procedure. We conducted qualitative interviews with 28 Mexican immigrant women and 23 Mexican immigrant men recruited through snowball sampling. We found that individuals learned about the Pap smear from a wide variety of sources and often understood the exam to be a screening test for sexually transmitted infections in general. They also related the need for Pap smears and the development of cervical cancer to high risk sexual behaviors. Finally, participants considered men to have a significant role as vectors for disease and as barriers to screening. Our results suggest that interventions to improve cervical cancer prevention among Mexican immigrants may be most effective if they include both men and women and if they recognize and address concerns about STI spread and prevention. Furthermore, interventions must recognize that even when women know how to prevent disease, they may feel disempowered with regard to making behavioral changes that will decrease their risk for STIs or cancer.

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Acknowledgments

This publication was made possible with support from the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI), grant number UL1 RR024140 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. We would like to thank Alma Rivera, Marco Mejia and Virginia Salinas for the work advising us in the formation and conduct of this study and for their help in disseminating results to the community. Dr. Gregg would also like to thank Thomas Becker MD, PhD, Stephanie Farquhar PhD, Martha Gerrity MD, PhD and Michelle Berlin MD, MPH for mentoring her in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, L475, Portland, OR, 97239, USA

    Jessica Gregg, Tatiana Centurion, Raquel Aguillon & Julio Maldonado

  2. Familias en Acción, Portland, OR, USA

    Rosemary Celaya-Alston

Authors
  1. Jessica Gregg
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  2. Tatiana Centurion
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  3. Raquel Aguillon
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  5. Rosemary Celaya-Alston
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Correspondence to Jessica Gregg.

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Gregg, J., Centurion, T., Aguillon, R. et al. Beliefs About the Pap Smear Among Mexican Immigrants. J Immigrant Minority Health 13, 899–905 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-009-9301-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-009-9301-4

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