Mothers' attitudes in Japan regarding cervical cancer screening correlates with intention to recommend cervical cancer screening for daughters

Background: Cervical cancer and its precancerous lesions caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) are steadily increasing in women in Japan. In comparison with women in other resource-rich countries, young women in Japan have a dismally low screening rate for cervical cancer. Our preliminary research has shown that 20-year-old women in Japan usually ask their mothers for advice regarding their initial cervical cancer screening. The objective of our current research is to determine the social factors among mothers in Japan that are causing them to give advice to their daughters regarding the HPV vaccine and cervical cancer screening.

Methods: The survey's targets were mothers who had 20-year-old daughters. We recruited respondents from the roster of a commercial internet survey panel. We analyzed for correlations between a mother's knowledge concerning cervical cancer, her recent cancer screening history, and the advice she gave to her daughter regarding cervical cancer screening.

Results: We obtained 618 valid answers to the survey. Compared with mothers who did not get screening, mothers who had cervical cancer screening had significantly more knowledge about cervical cancer and its screening (p < 0.05). The daughters of mothers with recent screening had received HPV vaccination more often than those of mothers without recent screening (p = 0.018). Mothers with recent screening histories tended more often to encourage their daughters to have cervical cancer screening (p < 0.05). When mothers were properly educated concerning cervical cancer and its screening, they were significantly more likely than before to recommend that their daughters have it (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: In young Japanese women, given the important role their mothers have in their lives, it is probable that we could improve their cervical cancer screening rate significantly by giving their mothers better medical information, and a chance to experience cervical cancer screening for themselves.