Cervical cancer: Riverside women’s knowledge in the Brazilian Amazon about preventive measures

Abstract

Objective To analyze riverside women’s knowledge about preventive measures against cervical cancer and its influence on the adoption of these measures. Methods This study used a descriptive, qualitative design, carried out with 20 riverside women at the Municipal Health Unit on the island of Cotijuba, municipality of Belém, state of Pará, Brazil. Data were produced from April to July 2023, through individual interviews with a semi-structured script, consisting of questions to understand participant sociodemographic characteristics and explore their subjectivities regarding the object of study. Descriptive statistical analysis of sociodemographic data was carried out. Subjective data were transcribed to form a text corpus , subjected to lexical processing and analysis with Interface de R pour les Analyzes Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires , version 0.7, alpha 2. Results Among the participants, ages ranged from 23 to 64 years old and the age group of 40–64 years old prevailed (n = 11; 55%). After using the software, we identified 262 text segments, using 222 (84.73% of the corpus ), generating six lexical classes, organized into three thematic axes. These axes demonstrate riverside women’s perceptions, behaviors and access to information regarding cervical cancer as well as their knowledge about preventive measures, the human papillomavirus and its relationship with this type of cancer. Gaps were identified in women’s knowledge about the disease, regarding the correct way to protect themselves to avoid cervical cancer. Conclusions Particularities of thought and attitude were observed in the adoption of preventive measures, a context in which it was possible to reflect on the way in which these aspects had or could have an impact on women’s daily lives, in order to strengthen or weaken their health.