Motivational predictors of adherence to cervical cancer prevention among female college students

This study examined the role of motivation in young women’s adherence to cervical cancer prevention. A total of 399 college female students completed a questionnaire that assessed a variety of factors influencing adherence to cancer prevention, including sociodemographic, knowledge and motivational variables. Results showed that motivation significantly predicted the intention to engage in the various preventive behaviors (Pap test, use of condoms, and restriction of the number of sexual partners), explaining 34% to 54% of the variance (p < 0.001), as well as the effective engagement in those preventive behaviors (odds ratio between 0.33 – 5.83; p < 0.05). These findings have important implications for designing and evaluating health education interventions to increase adherence to cervical cancer prevention by suggesting they should target both enhancing facilitating motivation (specifically, self-efficacy and building intention to engage in preventive behaviors) and decreasing debilitating motivation (specifically, emotional costs), thereby maximizing program efficacy.

Keywords
Compliance; Young adult; Health education; Uterine cervical neoplasms