Factors Influence on Pap Test Screening among Lahu Hill Tribe Women in Remote Area Thailand

BACKGROUND: Papanicolaou test is widely used to screening cervical cancer but low attend rate. There is one mountainous area found high participation rate. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the factors associated with successful Pap test among Lahu hill tribe women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The quantitative cross-sectional study was used in this study. Data were collected from 650 Lahu hill tribe women by simple random sampling. The interview forms with reliability coefficient and validity of 0.78 and 0.91 were administered to participants. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test. RESULTS: The 96.15% of the Lahu hill tribe women had taken Pap test and 74.31% obtained the screening more than once. The contraceptive use and frequency of Pap test obtaining significantly associated with cervical cancer screening (p<0.001). The participants showed good level of knowledge in cervical cancer and the screening test (64.31% and 76.46% respectively). Most of participants received the cervical cancer disease information (87.17%) and screening information (66.92%) from health care professionals, which may influence on well cervical screening co-operation. CONCLUSIONS: The suitable health promotion model should provide to promote knowledge, attitude and motivate continuous cooperation in cervical cancer screening among hill tribe women.