To investigate, among a homogeneous socio-economic group of nurses, (i) the importance of attributes in defining culture and (ii) the impact of different cultural groups on participation rate of cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination.
A printed questionnaire, without personal identifier, was used to collect the data. Statistical analysis was performed on SPSS version22.
Of 2000 copies of questionnaire delivered, 1621 (81.1%) returned the completed questionnaire. Overall, 1347 (83.0%) responders agreed or strongly agreed that the cultural value was important to them. The most important factors determining cultural value were religion (826 (50.9%)) and ethnicity (726 (44.8%)). Based on these findings, cultural traits of the responders were categorized into 11 groupings.
Healthcare utilization by visits to general practitioners, specialists and gynecologists was similar for the 11 cultural groupings. Of 1589 respondents who provided data on sexual behavior,, 838 (52.7%) were in a stable sexual relationship, and 637 (40.1%) had never been engaged in sexual activity. The difference in sexual behavior between the cultural groupings was statistically significant (p<0.001). The overall participation rate of regular 3-yearly Pap smear screening rate was 44% and HPV vaccination rate was 9%. There was no discernible difference between the 11 cultural groupings.
In Singapore, self-reported difference in culture among nurses were most prominently attributable to ethnicity and religion. Difference in culture impacted on their sexual behavior but not their participation rate in Pap smear test and HPV vaccination.