Womens' cancer screening motivated by fear

KALAMAZOO, Mich., June 15 (UPI) -- A meta-analysis found fear plays a major role in whether women decide to go for cancer screening, U.S. researchers said.

The study, published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, also found that healthcare providers underestimate how much women need to know and wrongly assume they will ask for information if they want it.

Dr. Kelly Ackerson of Western Michigan University and Dr. Stephanie Preston of the University of Michigan reviewed 19 studies involving 5,991 women ages 14-80 from 1994-2008.

"Our review showed that fear could motivate women to either seek screening or to avoid screening" Ackerson said in a statement. "Some women complied because they feared the disease and saw screening as routine care, but other women feared medical examinations, healthcare providers, tests and procedures and didn't seek screening if their health was good."

The review highlighted women's misconceptions about breast and cervical cancer. For example, some women felt they did not need breast or cervical screening after a certain age and some believed they could not develop cervical cancer if they weren't in a current sexual relationship, the researchers said.

"Lack of information was a big barrier," the researchers said. "It was clear from our review that very few women understood that cervical smear testing aims to identify abnormal cells before they become malignant and that breast screening can detect cancer in the early stages when treatment is most effective."