“Me sentí enfermar”: percepciones y comprensión de las mujeres del resultado positivo de un test de virus del papiloma humano en Jujuy, Argentina

Lucila Szwarc; Victoria Sánchez Antelo; Melisa Paolino; Silvina Arrossi

doi:10.18294/sc.2021.3572

“I felt myself getting sick:” women’s perceptions and understandings of a positive human papillomavirus test in Jujuy, Argentina

Lucila Szwarc Doctor in Social Sciences. Postdoctoral fellow, Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. , Victoria Sánchez Antelo Doctor in Social Sciences. Adjunct researcher, Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. , Melisa Paolino Doctor in Social Sciences. Assistant researcher, Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. , Silvina Arrossi Doctor in Demography. Principal Investigator, Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Received: 30 April 2021, Accepted: 2 August 2021, Published: 23 August 2021

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2021.3572 | PMID: 34752024

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Abstract

With the purpose of analyzing women’s perceptions and classifying their modes of understanding a positive human papillomavirus (HPV+) test, we conducted 38 in-depth interviews with women who had received an HPV diagnosis (normal and abnormal Pap smear), screened in Jujuy’s public health system in 2016. A typology based on women’s understandings of the result was developed: 1) understanding; 2) lack of understanding; a) underestimation; b) overestimation; c) confusion. The interviewees who experienced confusion over the results reported contradictory perceptions in relation to a positive HPV test and its severity; those who underestimated it tended to mention the absence of symptoms and expressed little concern over the result; while those who overestimated it considered themselves sick and described concern, narrating a biographical disruption and physical pain. These findings confirm the need to improve the delivery of results and the provision of information in order to decrease psychosocial impact and increase follow-up adherence in HPV-positive women.

Keywords: Human Papillomavirus, Preventive Health Services, Communication Barriers, Diagnosis, Cervix Uteri, Argentina

Categories: Anthropology

Full-text of the article is available for this language: Español.

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