Box 3 Communicating unwanted messages

From: Attitudes towards HPV testing: a qualitative study of beliefs among Indian, Pakistani, African-Caribbean and white British women in the UK

Mistrust

‘My partner would see no point [in testing] because he has been my only partner’ (ndian)

Promiscuity

Women reporting a friend's experience of an abnormal smear indicating HPV infection

‘3 weeks of articles in [popular women's magazine... very misleading, sayig that the number of partners you have, you are more or less going to develop cancer... that was a friend of mine who is now 47 and her mum... had given her that article... she said you know I had less than 5 partners, I've always used condoms and my mother is thinking I'm a red woman’ (White, British)

Nontraditional beliefs and practices

‘My family would see no point to it as you only have one partner’ (Pakistani)

‘Being single, my family will be suspicious of me [if I go for HPV testing]’ (Pakistani)

Back to article page