RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EARLY DIAGNOSIS ATTITUDES IN CERVICAL CANCER OF WOMEN AND LEVELS OF SELF-ESTEEM, BODY PERCEPTION AND HOPELESSNESS

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between early diagnosis attitudes and levels of self-esteem, body perception and hopelessness in women with cervical cancer Material and Method: This research was conducted as a descriptive, cross-sectional study in an area covered by three neighborhood primary health care clinics in Bornova, Izmir The data were collected from 390 women over the 18 years of age who were selected using a stratified random sampling method. A Descriptive Information Form, The Scale of Attitudes Toward Early Diagnosis of Cervical Cancer (SAEDCC), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Body Cathexis Scale (BCS) Ye Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) were used for data collection. Results: 56.4% of women did not,go to the gynecologic examination. The level of doing regularly pap test of women was 5.4%. The reasons why women did not want to be tested for pap smear were determined to be: not having any symptoms, neglect, not knowing pap smear and embarrassment. There were significant relations between perceived barrier and perceived benefit score means and RSES, BCS, BHS score means of the women. Conclusion: The rate of women who has been regularly tested for smear was low It was found that women with high level of self-esteem, high level of hope and with a positive body perception have more positive health attitudes towards early diagnosis of cervical cancer.