Health services (see Table 3)

In general, women expected a more complete explanation from their doctors; when told that they had a "mild infection", their anxiety lessened but their wish to learn more still remained.

Hunsbands

Subjectivity (see Table 4)

The interviewed husbands mentioned that they felt frightened by their wives' symptoms. They found it alarming when symptoms such as bleeding, hemorrhage, intense pain and fainting were present. In view of the severity of the symptoms, surgery was perceived as the only possible treatment.

Family (see Table 4) The interviewed men appeared willing to help their wives; some of them accompanied their wives to their examination and remained with them until after diagnosis was confirmed. It is important to point out, however, that the interviewed men were those who accompanied their wives to consultation – implying a potential source of bias. These men also mentioned that the daughters were who generally recommended that their mothers should undergo cervical screening. Gender (see Table 4)

Among the reactions of the interviewed men, fear of a possible positive diagnosis of cancer was manifest. Concern over the privacy of one's body was not exclusive to women, the men also reported shame for the fact that their wives' bodies were seen.

Regarding the possible confirmation of diagnosis, the men expressed fears that had more to do with the children's care and attention than with their wives's health condition.

Health services (see Table 4)

The evaluation of the care received was dependent on the persistence of the symptoms. If symptomps remained after medical care was received, then the service was considered to be deficient. On the other hand, if the symptoms disappeared, health care was graded as being efficient.

Discussion and conclusion

Subjectivity

The subjective way in which the interviewed subjects of the present study expressed their experiences, is nothing more than the collective style constructed in regard to cancer in general. Several authors [20-22] established this relationship between subjectivity and the social construct. The conditions associated to cancer, such as impotence, denial, death, and fatality, have been observed in many countries and are referred to as "cancer phobia" [23]. Cervical cancer in particular, is closely related to sexuality. The lack of attention and concern that women experience in relation to their own health is not coincidental. Within the Mexican culture, women have always been the procurers and not the beneficiaries of health. In this sense, to confront the reality of having cancer requires to repeatedly summon guilt and depression; guilt results from not taking early and preventive actions and depression from a seemingly inevitable and irreversible condition. One of our assumptions was that a close relationship with someone with a confirmed diagnosis would encourage healthy women to undergo cervical screening. However, our results did not confirm this assumption (Figure 1), instead, guilt seems to promote preventive behavior, in spite of informational campaigns. Sometimes women, motivated by guilt, seek a PAP smear but do not wait to learn its results; it wil take until they perceive a risk associated with concrete symptoms like hemorrhage, than they will seek another PAP smear.

As depicted in the experiential map created for women with cervical cancer, (See figure 2), information is the basic motivation that these women had to undergo an examination. When a woman does not get the PAP results and certain worrisome symptoms appear, she will probably use self-care measures like curative teas, or when symptoms are severe, she will request another PAP smear. If the results indicate cancer, women seek medical care.