“The Vagina is a Very Tricky Little Thing Down There”: Cervical Health Literacy among Incarcerated Women

Abstract

The objective of this study was to understand factors associated with women's ability to engage in cervical cancer prevention and follow-up care given ongoing criminal justice involvement. We conducted four focus groups with 45 incarcerated women to assess barriers to cervical health promotion, and used a grounded theory method to analyze data. We administered the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults to assess general health literacy as a standalone factor related to cervical health promotion. Ninety-one percent of participants had adequate health literacy scores. However, we found that the women had varying levels of cervical health literacy, which we operationalized as knowledge, beliefs, and self-efficacy related to cervical health promotion. Practitioners should establish broader interventions to empower women with criminal justice histories to take control of their own cervical health and focus on communicating updated recommendations to improve cervical health understanding, beliefs, and practices among high-risk women.