Korean J Women Health Nurs KJWHN Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing 1225-9543 Korean Academy of Women's Health Nursing 10.4069/kjwhn.2010.16.3.255 Original Article Pap Smear Screening Participation Behavior and Related Factors in Married Immigrant Women Kim So Young 1 Choi So Young 2 Nurse, Gosung-gun Public Health Center, Korea. Associate Professor, College of Nursing, Institute of Health Science, Gyeongsang National University, Korea. Address reprint requests to: Choi, So Young, College of Nursing, Gyeongsang National University, 92 Chilam-dong, Jinju 660-751, Korea. Tel: 82-55-751-8881, Fax: 82-55-751-8711, csy4214@hanmail.net 09 2010 30 09 2010 16 3 255 265 16 07 2010 01 09 2010 Copyright © 2010 Korean Academy of Women's Health Nursing 2010 Purpose

This study's aim was to investigate participation in Pap smear screening among married immigrant women and their behavior and its related factors.

 Methods

A survey was conducted among 165 married immigrant women in Gyeongsangnam-do from January 1 to March 20, 2010.

 Results

Results in this study showed that 51.5% have never participated in Pap Smear screening. Among those who have participated in the Pap Smear screening, 10.9% had regular screening, while 37.6% had irregular screening. Pap smear screening behavior was significantly different according to the experiences in health checkup (χ2=34.009, p<.001) , whether or not there was a hospital the woman regularly visited (χ2=7.768, p=.021) and perceived barriers (F=3.214, p=.043).

 Conclusion

For improvement of Pap smear participation, this study proposes to develop various nursing intervention programs which can improve perceived barriers in regards to the related variables. In addition, it is necessary to come up with a strategy to advertise the participation in Pap smear screening in a systematic and continuous manner in order to raise womens' awareness and to make married immigrant women realize the importance of regular Pap smear screenings.

 Immigrant Women Pap smear Participation Behavior

This article is based on a part of master's thesis from Gyeongsang National University.

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Pap Smear Screening Participation (N=165)

Differences in Pap Smear Screening Participation according to General Characteristics (N=165)

†Fisher's exact.

Differences in Pap Smear Screening Participation according to Health related Characteristics (N=165)

†Fisher's exact.

Mean and Standard Deviation of Measured Variables (N=165)

Differences in Pap Smear Screening Participation according to Self Esteem, Perceived Benefit, Perceived Barrier, Self Efficacy, Social Support and Acculturation (N=165)

a>b, Duncan's multiple range test.