Understanding Nonattendance among Women Invited to a Cardiovascular Preventive Initiative

Abstract

Dahl M et al. (2022), conducted a study to analysis of women’s reasons for refusing cardiovascular screening aiming to achieve a profound understanding of nonattendance by conducted a semi-structured interviews using Anton sky’s theory of sense of coherence as a theoretical frame work. Totally 1984 women who are born in 1936, 1941, 1946, 1951 and lived in Denmark were invited to participate in a cardiovascular screening programmed, only 74.3% participated in the study. Result showed that nonattendance was rooted in the women’s s social role as caregiver and their individual inner logics, which attested to a line of reasoning without critical reflection. A self-imposed caring role provided the women with meaningfulness in their daily lives, a role they were unwilling to risk by participating. As such, accepting screening was perceived as an unpredictable threat to upholding their social role. Inner logics were used as a strategy to keep life unchanged and uphold their identity. Women who felt healthy, found meaningfulness in relying on their own interpretation of their health status and thus considered screening unnecessarily. Moreover, nonattendance was related to the balance between personal resources and daily caring demands. Conclusion sScreening must be emotionally and cognitively meaningful for women to attend. This study contributed with valuable knowledge on what constitutes public acceptability in relation to cardiovascular preventive initiatives, making it relevant to healthcare professionals and policymakers alike. Involving targeted invitees in designing the screening initiative is likely to facilitate acceptability and encourage participation.