The Relationship between Health Locus of Control and Iranian Women's Beliefs toward Pap Smear Screening.
Marzieh Saei Ghare Naz, Tayebeh Darooneh, Farzaneh Rashidi Fakari and 3 others
PMID 30643832WHAT IT FOUND
Married Iranian women who believed their health was controlled by their own actions or by health professionals showed more positive Pap smear beliefs.
Screening education could address these control beliefs.
Key findings
0150.8% of participants had never had a Pap smear test.
02Higher internal health locus of control and higher powerful others health locus of control were significantly positively correlated with total Pap smear belief scores.
03Internal, powerful others, and chance health locus of control scores were predictors of total Pap smear belief scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
It included only married Iranian women who could read and write and attended these healthcare centres, so it may not apply to unmarried women, women who do not attend, or other populations. The design measured beliefs at one time point, so it cannot show that health locus of control causes Pap smear beliefs or screening behaviour. The outcome was belief measured by questionnaire, not the effect of a screening intervention. The authors state that results are not generalisable to the whole society because participants were women attending healthcare centres for services.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that changing health locus of control will increase Pap smear screening. This study measured beliefs in married Iranian women at healthcare centres and did not test an intervention or follow screening behaviour over time.