Women's Feeling of Discomfort During Vaginal Examination and Related Factors

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to identify the level of women’s feeling of discomfort during the vaginal examination and associated factors.Methods: Designed as cross-sectional research, the study was performed with 386 women who had a vaginal examination at a public hospital in Malatya province of Turkey in August-November 2018. The Personal Information Form, the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and the Impact of Event Scale were used in the collection of research data.Results: The mean of VAS scores was 2.86±3.52 points for the discomfort felt by participant women from the vaginal examination, and 22.8% of participant women (n=88) felt discomfort from the vaginal examination (VAS≥6 cm). Participant women who had no post-traumatic stress symptoms (79.3%), to whom the doctor made explanations during the examination (82.2%), to whom the doctor made explanations after the examination (83.3%), who found the post-examination explanation adequacy (80.2%), who were examined by the doctor (85.1%), who were examined by male health staff (86.6%), and who had the vaginal examination due to pregnancy (86.9%) felt lower levels of discomfort from the vaginal examination, and these differences from corresponding groups of participant women were statistically significant (p<0.05).Conclusion: It was identified that participant women felt low-level discomfort from the vaginal examination, approximately one-fifth of them had the feeling of discomfort, and the post-traumatic stress and health staff’s approaches toward the woman in the vaginal examination affected the woman’s feeling of discomfort.