Abstract
BackgroundMothers have a primary role in the prevention of cervical cancer in Korea. This study aimed to determine the awareness and health beliefs of mothers about preventing cervical cancer in their daughters, their intention to recommend the Pap test to their daughters, and the factors influencing this intention.MethodsA cross-sectional survey design was employed, and the study enrolled mothers (n = 1,581) of pubescent girls aged 13 to 18 years who were living nationwide in Korea. The six health-beliefs variables related to preventing cervical cancer in their daughters, awareness of the importance of cervical cancer prevention methods, and the intention to recommend the Pap test to daughters were investigated. The impacts of these health beliefs of the mothers and the sociodemographic factors influencing their intention to recommend the Pap test to their daughters were assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis.ResultsAlmost one-quarter (23.7 %) of the mothers had talked about the Pap test, 69.2 % were intending to recommend the Pap test to their daughters, and 38.5 % considered that the Pap test could be necessary if their daughters became sexually active. The significant health beliefs influencing the intention to recommend the Pap test were the perceived barriers [odds ratio (OR) = 1.47, 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) = 1.03–2.11] and benefits (OR = 2.25, 95 % CI = 1.55–3.25). The significant sociodemographic factors of mothers were their education (OR = 1.52, 95 % CI = 1.08–2.13), their experience of talking about the Pap test with their daughters (OR = 2.11, 95 % CI = 1.23–3.64), their regularity of undergoing the Pap test themselves (OR = 1.98, 95 % CI = 1.30–3.03), and their age when they first underwent the Pap test (OR = 1.60, 95 % CI = 1.43–0.82).ConclusionsThe mothers perceived HPV vaccination as the most important of the five methods for preventing cervical cancer in their daughters. Mothers perceived the importance of their daughters undergoing the Pap test regardless of the presence of HPV vaccination, and most of the mothers had an intention of recommending the Pap test to their daughters. Strategies for increasing the intention of mothers to recommend the Pap test to their adolescent daughters could be promoted by increasing their perceptions of the benefits while reducing their perceptions of barriers toward their daughters undergoing the Pap test, and by empowering active communication about the Pap test between mothers and daughters.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3037-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Mothers have a primary role in the prevention of cervical cancer in Korea
One-third of the mothers had talked about human papillomavirus (HPV) with their daughters, 23.7 % had talked about the Pap test, 7.2 % reported that their daughters had already been vaccinated against HPV, 64.8 % of the mothers had themselves undergone the Pap test, 19.1 % of the mothers underwent the test regularly, 47.6 % of the mothers had first undergone the Pap test at an age of 30–35 years (32.9 ± 6.0 years, n = 974), 8.6 % of the mothers had been diagnosed with cervical cancer previously, and 4.6 % of the mothers had a family history of cervical cancer (Table 1)
Awareness of mothers about methods for preventing cervical cancer in their daughters, including the Pap test Among the five methods for preventing cervical cancer in their daughters, mothers ranked the importance of undergoing a regular Pap test in second place, after HPV vaccination
Summary
Mothers have a primary role in the prevention of cervical cancer in Korea. This study aimed to determine the awareness and health beliefs of mothers about preventing cervical cancer in their daughters, their intention to recommend the Pap test to their daughters, and the factors influencing this intention. It is reported that the Pap testing rate ranged from 7.1 % (mean age = 26.4 years) to 12.5 % (mean age = 22.4 years) among sexually active women in Korea [4, 10] Based on this situation, it has been suggested that the importance of Pap testing of young Korean women relative to the HPV vaccination needs to be emphasized to the general population in Korea [2, 4]. There is currently no formal sex education provided to Korean pubescent girls on cervical cancer prevention or HPV prevention [2, 7, 8, 18] To address this situation, the current study investigated the role of mothers in preventing cervical cancer in their adolescent daughters, with a focus on the opinions of mothers about their daughters undergoing the Pap test
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