Transvaginal Sonography: perception and attitude of Nigerian women

BACKGROUND To assess the attitude to and perception of transvaginal sonography (TVS) among Nigerian women of mixed educational status in order to ascertain factors that may prevent them from submitting to TVS when recommended. METHODS A Cross-sectional survey was adopted for the study. In all, one missionary, one government and eight private hospitals were enlisted. The instruments for data collection were visual analogue scale (VAS), to ascertain patients' pain/discomfort experience, and a researcher-developed semi-structured questionnaire. The level of pain/discomfort on the VAS was categorized into four on a scale of 100. The categories were: 0-5 (no pain), 6-40 (mild pain), 41-74 (moderate pain), and 75-100 (severe pain). RESULTS Majority (50.6%) of the respondents who attained secondary education had positive attitude to TVS. Also majority of the respondents (63.1%) preferred female sonographers. Majority of the respondents (54.1%) perceived TVS as not embarrassing, 78% did not consider it stressful, 96.9% reported that the sonographers were professional, 46.7% felt that a chaperon was needed, 98.4% reported there were enough privacy and 84.7% reported they needed prior information. Most of the respondents (82%) were willing to consent to TVS in future, 90.5% reported no pain, 8.6% reported mild pain/discomfort and 0.9% reported moderate pain. CONCLUSIONS Majority of our respondents had positive attitude to TVS and were willing to consent to TVS in future, hence it was acceptable to them. It was however observed that acceptability increased with increasing academic status.