Title

Young Women's Reasons to Seek Sexually Transmitted Infection Screening

Publication Date

10-1-2014

Document Type

Article

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To describe young women's reasons to seek and not to seek sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening; to explore whether reasons differed by age and STI screening history. DESIGN AND SAMPLE: Cross-sectional, descriptive. Female students (N = 216) at a university in the Midwestern United States. MEASURES: An anonymous online survey was designed based on the Theory of Care Seeking Behavior and literature regarding STI screening among young women. RESULTS: The most common reason to seek STI screening was to start treatment promptly (85%); the most common reason not to seek screening was being asymptomatic (54%). Participants' reasons differed by age and screening history. Women under 25 were more likely than women 25 and older to seek screening because of encouragement from female role models (p < .01). Women who had never been screened were more likely than women who had been screened to avoid screening because of embarrassment (p < .05). Novel findings included seeking STI screening because it "should be done" if sexually active and because of encouragement from female role models. CONCLUSIONS: Health care and public health professionals can use these findings to develop strategies to improve STI screening rates among young women.

Publication Title

Public Health Nursing

Volume

31

Issue

5

First Page

395

Last Page

404

DOI

10.1111/phn.12125

Publisher Policy

pre-print, post-print (with 12 month embargo)

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