{"title":"Living in the Minds of Others: How Pudor and Social Judgements Affect Women's Cervical Cancer Screening Uptake in Mozambique?","authors":"Gefra Fulane, Maria Major, Cesaltina Lorenzoni","doi":"10.1002/hpm.3881","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mozambique introduced its cervical cancer screening programme in 2009, but only 3.5% of the target women participate in screening annually. While previous research has focused on provision and access to service, and women's cognitive barriers to screening, this study explores the emotional factors, particularly pudor, that affect women's acceptance of screening. Using an institutional work perspective, we conducted an explanatory case study involving documental analysis and primary data collection through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, direct observations, and informal conversations with 121 participants, including women, health professionals, and family members from Xai-Xai in Southern Mozambique. Our findings reveal that pudor, an emotion tied to a deep-seated sense of reserve rooted in patriarchal culture and masculine dominance, plays a significant role in limiting women's motivation to participate in screening. This emotion, shaped by social and cultural norms around privacy, intimacy, and sexuality, leads women to view cervical cancer screening as culturally unacceptable, often responding with attitudes emphasising modesty and avoidance. These findings underscore the importance of addressing emotional factors in health care strategies and considering the sociocultural context that influences health behaviours.</p>","PeriodicalId":47637,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Health Planning and Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Health Planning and Management","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3881","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Mozambique introduced its cervical cancer screening programme in 2009, but only 3.5% of the target women participate in screening annually. While previous research has focused on provision and access to service, and women's cognitive barriers to screening, this study explores the emotional factors, particularly pudor, that affect women's acceptance of screening. Using an institutional work perspective, we conducted an explanatory case study involving documental analysis and primary data collection through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, direct observations, and informal conversations with 121 participants, including women, health professionals, and family members from Xai-Xai in Southern Mozambique. Our findings reveal that pudor, an emotion tied to a deep-seated sense of reserve rooted in patriarchal culture and masculine dominance, plays a significant role in limiting women's motivation to participate in screening. This emotion, shaped by social and cultural norms around privacy, intimacy, and sexuality, leads women to view cervical cancer screening as culturally unacceptable, often responding with attitudes emphasising modesty and avoidance. These findings underscore the importance of addressing emotional factors in health care strategies and considering the sociocultural context that influences health behaviours.
期刊介绍:
Policy making and implementation, planning and management are widely recognized as central to effective health systems and services and to better health. Globalization, and the economic circumstances facing groups of countries worldwide, meanwhile present a great challenge for health planning and management. The aim of this quarterly journal is to offer a forum for publications which direct attention to major issues in health policy, planning and management. The intention is to maintain a balance between theory and practice, from a variety of disciplines, fields and perspectives. The Journal is explicitly international and multidisciplinary in scope and appeal: articles about policy, planning and management in countries at various stages of political, social, cultural and economic development are welcomed, as are those directed at the different levels (national, regional, local) of the health sector. Manuscripts are invited from a spectrum of different disciplines e.g., (the social sciences, management and medicine) as long as they advance our knowledge and understanding of the health sector. The Journal is therefore global, and eclectic.