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Cited by 168Women's cancer prevention and managementCervical Cancer and HPV ResearchGlobal Cancer Incidence and Screening

Qualitative study of barriers to cervical cancer screening among Nigerian women

Open access
Isa Modibbo, Fatima, Dareng, Eileen, Bamisaye, Patience, Jedy-Agba, Elima, Adewole, Ayodele, Oyeneyin, Lawal, Olaniyan, Olayinka, Adebamowo, Clement·2016·BMJ Open
DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008533PMC PMC4716205
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Abstract

Objectives: To explore the barriers to cervical cancer screening, focusing on religious and cultural factors, in order to inform group-specific interventions that may improve uptake of cervical cancer screening programmes. Design: We conducted four focus group discussions among Muslim and Christian women in Nigeria. Setting: Discussions were conducted in two hospitals, one in the South West and the other in the North Central region of Nigeria. Participants: 27 Christian and 22 Muslim women over the age of 18, with no diagnosis of cancer. Results: Most participants in the focus group discussions had heard about cervical cancer except Muslim women in the South Western region who had never heard about cervical cancer. Participants believed that wizardry, multiple sexual partners and inserting herbs into the vagina cause cervical cancer. Only one participant knew about the human papillomavirus. Among the Christian women, the majority of respondents had heard about cervical cancer screening and believed that it could be used to prevent cervical cancer. Participants mentioned religious and cultural obligations of modesty, gender of healthcare providers, fear of disclosure of results, fear of nosocomial infections, lack of awareness, discrimination at hospitals, and need for spousal approval as barriers to uptake of screening. These barriers varied by religion across the geographical regions. Conclusions: Barriers to cervical cancer screening vary by religious affiliations. Interventions to increase cervical cancer awareness and screening uptake in multicultural and multireligious communities need to take into consideration the varying cultural and religious beliefs in order to design and implement effective cervical cancer screening intervention programmes.

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  • Nigeria still lacks a national cervical policy, hence cervical screening for women is not widespread.

    “Nigeria still lacks a national cervical policy, hence cervical screening for women is not widespread.6”

    From Towards the development of a community-based model for promoting cervical cancer prevention among Yoruba women in Ibadan Nigeria: application of PEN-3 model (2019) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Results (Awareness and knowledge about cervical cancer; page unavailable) report that 61.2% of focus-group participants had never been screened, supporting low uptake in the study group. The Introduction says population-wide screening programmes are generally lacking in Sub-Saharan Africa, but our copy does not state that Nigeria lacks a national cervical screening policy or that the absence of such a policy causes low uptake. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Sorted by citations

Authors
Isa Modibbo, F., Dareng, E., Bamisaye, P., Jedy-Agba, E., Adewole, A., Oyeneyin, L., Olaniyan, O., & Adebamowo, C.
Affiliations
  • Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, National Hospital Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria
  • University of Cambridge (GB)
  • National Hospital Abuja (NG)
  • London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
  • Mother and Child Hospital, Ondo, Nigeria
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
ORCID
Venue
BMJ Open
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2016-01
Volume
6
Issue
1
Pages
e008533
ISSN
2044-6055 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008533
PMC
PMC4716205
OpenAlex
W2286976689
Cited by
168
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2
FWCI
10.58
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • BMJ Open (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • U.S. Public Health Service (NIH/NHGRI U54 HG006947)
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH/NHGRI U54HG006947, U54HG006947)
  • National Cancer Institute (D43CA153792, NCI/NIH 1D43 CA153792)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Women's cancer prevention and management
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Cervical Cancer and HPV Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Global Cancer Incidence and Screening
Keywords
cervical cancer screening, screening uptake barriers, religious beliefs, cultural beliefs, Muslim women, Christian women, cervical cancer awareness, modesty, spousal approval, Nigeria
MeSH terms
Adult, Uterine Cervical Neoplasms, Christianity, Culture, Family Relations, Fear, Female, Humans, Islam, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Mass Screening, Nigeria, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Personality, Physician-Patient Relations, Self Concept, Focus Groups, Early Detection of Cancer

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