Health Literacy and Intention to Undergo Cervical Cancer Screening among Married Women in Bangladesh: The Roles of Perceived Benefits and Social Support

The availability of screening services is not the only factor that determines whether women access screening-they must also be able to comprehend information about cervical cancer screening services, see the advantages, ask for support, and turn comprehension and incentives into intention to access services. The present study aimed to investigate the association of screening intention with health literacy of, perceived benefits of, and social support towards cervical cancer screening among married women in Bangladesh. The design of the study was quantitative survey and the 720 valid questionnaires collected were analyzed using the PLS-SEM approach. Measurement model revealed acceptable indicator reliability, internal consistency and convergent validity, while also achieving acceptable discriminant validity. The structural model accounted for 37.6% variance of perceived benefits, and 56.9% variance of the screening intention. The effect of health literacy was significant about perceived benefits (β = 0.528) and screening intention (β = 0.348). Social support had a positive impact on perceived benefits (β = 0.315) and screening intention (β = 0.224). The perceived benefit was also significantly positively associated with screening intention (β = 0.428). Further, the relationship between health literacy and screening intention also was significantly mediated by perceived benefits (indirect β = 0.226). The findings indicate that interventions targeting the continuation of stronger information regarding the benefit of screening, to better understand screening, and to increase support from their social environment may improve screening intentions among married women, when screening is professionally recommended and clinically indicated.