The Perception Of Women Victims Of Sexual Violence Against Cervical Cancer Screening

Background: Sexual violence is a huge scourge due to its impact on the future lives of victims who are at a high risk of developing sexually transmitted diseases, including human papillomavirus diseases. The purpose of this work is to diagnose and share the different reactions of women victims of sexual violence during the screening process, from awareness to the announcement of the results. Methodology: This is a qualitative and observational survey of the 126 girls and women aged 13 to 54 listed at the City of Joy(Panzi) and in the service of VSV (Victims of sexual violence) of Panzi General Reference Hospital (PGRH) in South Kivu (DRC) andhaving benefited a screening for a period of 9 months, from January to September 2018. Data analysis was done using SPSS statistics software 20. Results: Patients aged less than 15 years represented 9.1% of the population, the tendency to refuse awareness was found in 80% of cases, with a categorical refusal in 20%. Retrograde ideas in terms of organ sales were raised during screening; there was 25% categorical refusal of screening; 4% of patients had their menses a few minutes before screening. We noted an exaggerated fear in the patients before the announcement of the results with a tendency to 80% to the rejection of this one for fear to be declared seropositive. For the negative cases, it was a total euphoria, whereas for the positive cases, which seemed to ask a lot of questions, glimpsed death directly. Conclusion: This study, which is the first in the region to our knowledge, supports the idea that women who have been victims of sexual violence are reluctant to screen for cervical cancer. Sexual violence therefore constitutes an obstacle to the preventive screening of the latters. Clinicians are called upon to know about the impact of sexual violence on victims' lives and to know that they need both physical and psychotherapeutic comfort to overcome their history. We hope that more studies will be done in the region and will provide many other solutions against this torment of victims of sexual violence.