Biomedical subjects

C Tomaino-Brunner

Publications and source records attributed to C Tomaino-Brunner.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Can precolposcopy education increase knowledge and decrease anxiety?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of an educational intervention on knowledge and anxiety level of women scheduled for colposcopy after an abnormal Papanicolaou (Pap) test. DESIGN: Experimental, randomized controlled study. SETTING: An inner-city medical school. PARTICIPANTS: The final sample consisted of 58 women in the intervention group and 55 women in the control group. Exclusion criteria included any previous colposcopy. INTERVENTIONS: The women in the intervention group received in the mail, approximately 1 week before their appointment, a one-page handout about colposcopy. The control group received no mailed handout. After arriving for the visit, women were asked to participate in the study and then were interviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Knowledge of reason for visit and knowledge of colposcopy as measured by content analysis of interview; and anxiety as measured by the Spielberger State/Trait Anxiety Inventory. RESULTS: Women in the intervention group demonstrated significantly more knowledge about the reason for their visit and about colposcopy than did the other women. No significant difference in mean anxiety score was found between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention increased knowledge about colposcopy for this population. Because patient education is an essential nursing function, these results are encouraging. This intervention can be replicated by nurses in other settings. Further research is necessary to understand how nurses can best help women alleviate anxiety before colposcopy.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

"I hope I don't have cancer": colposcopy and minority women.

PURPOSE: To determine what women scheduled for colposcopy knew about the procedure and to understand their concerns about the test and its implications. DESIGN: Descriptive, exploratory, qualitative. SAMPLE AND SETTING: All women scheduled for colposcopy in a three-month period (n = 29) in an inner-city academic center in the northeast United States. The sample consisted of African American (66%), Hispanic (31%), and white (3%) women ranging in age from 17-59 years (x = 39 years). METHODS: Women were interviewed on the telephone or in person and were asked seven open-ended questions about why they were referred and what they expected would happen at the appointment. Interviews were content analyzed. FINDINGS: Four themes common to the women's responses emerged from the interview data: fear about their health, apprehension about the colposcopy, uncertainty about the meaning of the Pap test, and pervasive lack of knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that women in this study scheduled for colposcopy had little factual information about the test or its implications, were anxious about the appointment, and wanted more complete information. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Nurses cannot assume that women understand the reasons for their referral for colposcopy or the implications of the test. These study results imply that lengthened appointment time might be required to provide appropriate education and help alleviate women's anxiety. Future nursing research should examine the effect of anticipatory counselling and education for this group of women.

Adolescent↗