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Catherine G. Magee, BA, Jen R. Hult, BA, Ruby Turalba, BA and Shelby McMillan, BA

Catherine G. Magee, Jen R. Hult, Ruby Turalba, and Shelby McMillan are in the Master of Public Health program in the Department of Health Education at San Francisco State University.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Jen R. Hult, University of California, San Francisco, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, PO Box 1726, San Francisco, CA 94143–1726 (e-mail: hultj{at}ocim.ucsf.edu).

Growing evidence indicates that women in prison are particularly vulnerable to many negative health outcomes, including cervical cancer. The Papanicolaou (Pap) test is an effective tool to screen for this disease. To determine what is and is not working with the Pap test and follow-up treatment, we performed qualitative interviews with women prisoners and key informants at a California state women’s prison. Our assessment revealed that the process of administering Pap tests at this institution was not meeting the health care needs of the women interviewed.

Women reported having negative experiences during the test and with their health care providers. Additionally the prison’s culture and infrastructure create obstacles that hinder prisoners from receiving quality care and providers from delivering that care. In response, women prisoners use self-and community advocacy to meet their health care needs and cope with these challenges.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N Douglas, E Plugge, and R Fitzpatrick The impact of imprisonment on health: what do women prisoners say? J Epidemiol Community Health, September 1, 2009; 63(9): 749 - 754. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. F. Linder and F. J. Meyers Palliative Care for Prison Inmates: "Don't Let Me Die in Prison" JAMA, August 22, 2007; 298(8): 894 - 901. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]