Nurse perception regarding cytopathological exams in physically disabled women

Abstract

Objective: to understand the perspective of nurses regarding the obstacles faced by physically disabled women in regard to cytopathological examinations. Methods: qualitative study with 11 nurses from Basic Health Units, including urban and rural areas. Data was processed and analyzed using the software IRAMUTEQ (R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires). Results: classes 1 and 5 were grouped into the class “Inadequate infrastructure”; class 2 was “Results of the collected exams”; class 3, “Feelings at the time of examination”; and 4 “Team training”. Conclusion: we revealed that women presented negative feelings during the examination, professionals lacked further training, there were no strategies to deal with the situation in the unit, and facilities were inadequate to attend the needs of the users. Contributions to practice: we demonstrated that it is essential to provide care to physically disabled women and carry out routine exams in this population. Furthermore, this study can give support to strategies to adapt and improve the knowledge of the workers who provide care.

Keywords

• community health nursing; disabled persons;
• gynecological examination; women’s health; health vulnerability