How did adult women's fear of COVID-19 affect their attitudes toward cervical cancer screening? An example of Turkey

Abstract

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out between May and December 2021 in Turkey to examine the effect of adult women's fear of COVID-19 on their attitudes toward Cervical Cancer (CC) screening. The study population consisted of 334 women between the ages of 30 and 65 years according to the criteria of the national standards for the CC screening program in Turkey. A socio-demographic data form (21 questions) and the fear of COVID-19 Scale (7 questions) were used for data collection. The mean score of women for the level of knowledge about cervical cancer screening was 6.16 ± 3.05 out of a total score of 10. The mean score of the Fear of COVID-19 scale was 19.20 ± 6.12 out of a total score of 35. Cause of the risk of COVID-19 contamination 25.4 % of women postponed their CC screening. Women’s knowledge about cervical cancer screening was found to be moderate, and their fear of coronavirus was found to be close to moderate. It was determined that women with a high fear of coronavirus postponed their CC screening tests.