Cervical Cancer Screening Barriers Sample Clauses

Cervical Cancer Screening Barriers. Despite the recently observed declines in cervical cancer incidence and mortality, xxxxx inequalities persist within discrete populations within the United States. Some estimates indicate that African Americans are twice as likely, while Hispanics are two to three times more likely to develop invasive cervical cancer than non-Hispanic Whites. Other high- risk populations include women with lower incomes and education levels, the uninsured or underinsured, and members of ethnic minorities or immigrant groups.38 One of the most critical factors underlying such disparities is the ability to access screening and appropriate follow-up services for abnormal Pap test results. Noncompliance with screening and follow- up recommendations results in suboptimal outcomes that can negatively affect a cervical cancer patient’s prognosis. Divergence from prescribed screening and follow-up procedures may lead to later stage at diagnosis, which consequently can result in increased morbidity and mortality. The ability to access care is dependent on a set of interacting factors that oftentimes present challenges to individual women seeking care. The literature on barriers to cervical cancer screening has classified potential barriers into three overarching categories, namely: cultural and personal barriers, socioeconomic barriers, and institutional barriers.13 Culture may be operationally defined as a worldview that encompasses an individual’s or community’s shared communication system, similarities in physical and social environments, common beliefs, values, and traditions, and similarities in lifestyle, attitude, perceptions, and behavior.13 In terms of cancer healthcare seeking behaviors, culture may influence an individual’s capability to understand and internalize the need to seek or accept cancer care and perceptions related to the likelihood of developing cancer. Further, culture may affect one’s capacity to understand information on cancer and screening, since culture is a key determinant of beliefs and perceptions regarding cancer. Cultural beliefs may give rise to the oft-noted phenomenon of cancer fatalism (i.e. the perception that a cancer diagnosis is a death sentence), while personal factors may involve competing life priorities such as income generation, work, or familial responsibilities, that moderate the importance of cancer screening in comparison.32,13 Prominent iterations of cultural barriers identified in the literature include: lack of accurate cancer i...