‘My First Smear Test’: British Women’s Lived Experience

Swadkins, Lia (2019) ‘My First Smear Test’: British Women’s Lived Experience. Leeds Beckett University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

With smear test attendance rates being at an all-time low in the United Kingdom ("Increasing cervical screening attendance", 2019) and the experiences shared often being negative, there is a misrepresentation of smear test experiences. Previous literature looking at pelvic examination experiences have suggested that they are a necessary situation (Larsen, Oldeide & Malterud, 1997; Oscarsson, Benzein & Wijma, 2007). Some women associated smear tests with intimacy and sexuality (Grundström, Wallin & Betero, 2011). Whereas some women found the procedure to be more positive than they expected it to be (Larsen et al, 1997). However, there has been a lack of research focusing on smear test experiences in a United Kingdom population. The aims of this study were 1. To explore British women’s lived experiences of smear tests, and 2. To inform women who have not yet experienced a smear test. The study investigates ten British women’s lived experiences of smear tests and the data was collected from blog posts which were accessible from the public domain. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis has been used to analyse the data by following the six-step stage guide proposed by van Manen for hermeneutic research (1990). The study used van Manen’s three questions to analyse the data and find the themes (van Manen, 2002). The themes identified were ‘negative preconceptions, ‘a necessary procedure’, ‘vagina anxieties’, ‘success through caring’, ‘keeping your modesty’ and ‘preparing for the medical encounter’. These themes overall created the essence of the experience which was ‘a necessary evil’. The findings found that women saw the smear test as being a vital procedure, however, one which brought anxiety, exposure and shame. Positive nurse interaction and receiving information throughout the procedure led to are more comfortable smear test experience.