Attitudes towards the prevention of cervical cancer in women in a technical education center

Actitudes frente a la prevención del cáncer de cuello uterino en mujeres de un centro de educación técnica.

Objective: the objective of the present investigation is to describe the attitudes towards the prevention of cervical cancer in women from Formarte Institute in the city of Cali-Colombia. Materials and methods: a cross-sectional study was carried out. We included 138 women enrolled in any of the academic programs, who were surveyed in order to measure the variables of the research. Results: an average age of 33,7 years was found (SD 13,2). Of these, 22,5% began relationships below 14 years of age, 42,8% reported having had at least 3 sexual partners, 48% rarely resorted to condom use, 28,3% reported smoking. 23,2% have received some type of education regarding the prevention of cervical cancer, although 82,6% recognize the importance of cytology and in the majority, 42% perform the exam annually. Conclusions: We found deficiencies regarding attitudes in the prevention of cervical cancer, which seem to be related to the particular cultural context of the population studied and that are dissimilar to those observed in other geographical locations.