Knowledge, attitudes and practice related to Papanicolaou smear test among Argentina's women

Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding the Papanicolaou test in an Argentinean community. Methods: Two hundred women were interviewed at their homes in Puerto Leoni, Misiones, Argentina. Women were selected by simple random sampling. Answers were described in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and practice, ant their respective adequacies with respect to the Papanicolaou test, as previously defined. Adequacy was compared between the categories of the control variables by chi(2) test with a 5% significance level. Results: Knowledge and practice of the Papanicolaou test were adequate in 49.5% and 30.5% of subjects, respectively although the attitude towards the test was considered adequate in 80.5% of subjects. Another important finding was that women reported as the main reason for not undergoing the test the lack of a request by a physician or healthcare professional. Conclusions: Our results show a need for increasing the information provided to the public, especially by healthcare services and professionals, thus generating knowledge among the population of the advantages and benefits of Papanicolaou testing.