Barriers to accessing and absorbing information about human papillomavirus
| Barrier | Sub-theme | Sample quotes |
|---|---|---|
| Overwhelmed with information | Information overload Needing time to ‘digest’ information Forgetting information received | “Sometimes when you're in there, you forget you're getting so much information you forget to … sometimes you'll often walk out and go, ‘Oh, maybe I should have asked him [the doctor] that’.” [PT31] “Well I kind of felt I just needed to process it [information], and well to just let it sink in.” [PT03] “I need to write things down. If I don't write it down I just can't remember. I can remember there and then, and then I'll go home and say, ‘What did they say again?’.” [PT44] |
| Context of the HPV test | HPV test for research HPV test as part of normal follow-up Wanting examination over quickly | “I just knew it [HPV test] was for some kind of research, so that much, give them a bit of time, no problem you know.” [PT44] “It [HPV test] wasn't kind of pinpointed as a separate thing.” [PT3] “You're in a different frame of mind. So you just kind of go, ‘get me out of here as quick as you can’.” [PT44] |
| Experience(s) of attending the colposcopy clinic | Positive clinic experience Clinic too busy/other women waiting Cannot ring clinic afterward | “You're totally comfortable straight away, so the environment is nearly second to that for me you know, they're welcoming and you know, lovely, great, all the more to make you feel comfortable and at home I, sort of didn't think beyond that like, oh gosh you know I might have cancer cells or what is HPV? I didn't even think of that.” [P035] “You feel as if you're holding up everybody else so you don't want to kind of [ask questions] because I mean it is busy but when you're in there.” [PT20] “Because you can't get through to them on the phone when you ring anytime, no I wouldn't start ringing them to [to ask questions].” [PT19] |
| Women's perceptions of medical professionals’ behaviours and attitudes | Not wanting to burden medical professional with questions Attitudes/responses of medical professionals to questions The way in which the HPV test is presented by the medical professional Preference for who delivers the information | “You don't want to you know, be holding up their [doctor] time either.” [PT32] “I had lots of questions and she [the nurse] answered them but five minutes later I had forgotten so I had to ask again and she was getting, I think, a little bit, just frustrated.” [PT44] “It [HPV test] was just the way they [doctors] spoke about it you know, there wasn't, there wasn't any need to worry the way they were speaking about it.” [PT20] “I never feel like they're [nurses] confident enough to tell you everything probably because the doctor would maybe have more degrees or know more details.” [PT31] |
| Information available on the Internet | Previous negative experiences of searching for information Contradictory/exaggerated information “Scare-mongering” health forums | “You'd want to be really stupid to believe everything you read on the Internet, even about early pregnancy.” [PT40] “You just you can take it too seriously as well. In that, there's so many contradicting things.” [PT29] “When you're on the internet looking up something like that, it's like if you have a pain in your head and you look up a medical book, ‘Jesus I have a brain tumour’.” [PT05] |
HPV, human papillomavirus.