Psychological impact, support and information needs for women with an abnormal Pap smear: comparative results of a questionnaire in three European countries

Table 2 Communication of abnormal Pap test results, reaction to it (in at least 10% of patients in any one country) and follow-up of abnormal Pap smear results

	% patients
	Total (N = 1475)	France (N = 765) A	Spain (N = 467) B	Portugal (N = 243) C
Announcement made via:
Letter	36.0	58.9 ^BC	12.7	36.3 ^B
From physician	22.1	33.6^B	9.2	23.5^B
From laboratory ± physician	13.9	25.3^BC	3.5	12.8^B
Phone call	52.0	31.9	75.7 ^AC	48.4 ^A
From physician's secretary	27.8	8.5	53.4^AC	21.5^A
From physician	24.2	23.4	22.3	26.9
Other	13.7	10.6	14.0	16.6
Initial feelings after being told of abnormal Pap smear test result*
Anxiety	59.1	74.0^B	36.4	66.9^B
Panic	32.9	29.1	25.6	43.9^AB
Stress	23.3	38.6^BC	7.6	23.9^B
Did not know what it meant	22.9	25.1	29.9^C	13.8
Incredulity	9.9	4.5	17.8^AC	7.5
Guilty	8.6	8.4	11.9^C	5.4
Anger	8.4	7.6^C	15.6^AC	2.0
Feelings after physician's explanation of findings and next steps*
Worried	51.5	47.3	56.0^A	51.2
Reassured	33.9	34.5	30.7	36.4
Confident	19.2	19.3^C	7.3	31.0^AB
Optimistic	17.7	9.8^BC	19.9	23.5
Relieved	14.5	11.6	14.9	16.9
Disorientated	13.7	18.5^BC	12.5	9.9
Depressed	11.8	15.7C	13.0^C	6.6

Data from Questions 3, 4 and 5
Superscript letters (A, B, C) show significantly superiority (0.1% risk; Student t-test) relative to the corresponding value in the superscript column indicated.
*Up to three responses per question permitted

ISSN: 1472-6874