Cervical Screening & Aboriginal Women

smilesandstickers · Nov 20, 2009

Would like to share some information from a recent class project:

Did you know that:

1. There is no comprehensive national data source on incidence of Cervical Cancer among aboriginal women in Canada (and I don't think the USA has one either)

2. Cervical Cancer effects more First Nations women that it effects the general population (regional studies 1.8 - 6.0 x more likely to be effected by cervical cancer)

3. There is low participation in cervical screening by many Aboriginal women

4. This is because screening programs are not culturally safe, colonialism has resulted in lack of trust, and practitioners do not take the time to establish client comfort so that aboriginal women have a good experience

5. It is also because some Aboriginal women do not know why it is important to recieve a regular pap test

6. This link provides an article that "uses components of the medicine wheel to develop a conceptual framework for understanding aboriginal women in the context of pap-smear screening"

http://www.pimatisiwin.com/online/?page_id=205

7. There are some wonderful information sources that discuss cultural safety vs. Leninger'stheory of transcultural nursing:http://www.naho.ca/english/documents/Culturalsafetyfactsheet.pdf Ramsden, I., M., (2002). Cultural safety and nursing education in Aotearoa and Te Walpounamu. Retrieved from http://culturalsafety.massey.ac.nz/thesis.htm October 27th, 2009***Ramsden's thesis is beautifully written with narratives, and to understand it I recommend looking at the NAHOfact sheet first!