Factors Affecting Health Seeking Behaviour Among Kelantanese Women on Pap Smear Screening

Pap smear screening services were introduced in Malaysia late 1960s. Yet the Second and Third National Health and Morbidity Surveys reported persistently low uptake by eligible women. Women in the state of Kelantan are still among the lowest to have done pap smear in Malaysia. The aim of this paper is to explore and identify factors affecting health seeking behaviour on pap smear screening among women in Kelantan, Malaysia. Fourty-four women were recruited in this qualitative study using the purposive sampling with snowballing technique. They were interviewed using in-depth interviews. Transcribed materials were analysed using the N-Vivo version 2. It was found that there were several factors shaping women's health seeking behaviour on pap smear screening such as accessibility, attitude towards pap smear, sex of the health provider, support, time and cost. The two most significant factors were knowledge on pap smears and attitude towards pap smears including fear and embarrassment. In terms of accessibility, support and cost, majority of the respondents claimed that those factors were not the main issues affecting their health seeking behaviour. The findings imply that health education and information on pap smear screening is still inadequate in Malaysia and that fear and embarrassment issues among women were not adequately understood and addressed. It is recommended that health providers who provide a complete screening programme must have a clear understanding of the needs, concerns, and beliefs of women and the communities to ensure that services will be accessible, acceptable and utilized. Women should be equipped with knowledge and should have assertive attitude on their health issues in order to develop better health seeking behaviours especially on pap smear screening.