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pubmed:otherAbstract |
PIP: A public health nurse from London describes the customs of nomadic people in the British Isles, known as "travellers," as they affect provision of family planning services. Most are of British or Irish stock, some migrate and others live in caravan sites all year. Their traditions dictate that men work and women are housewives. Early, often arranged, marriage, early childbearing and large families are the norm. Sex and contraception are not considered appropriate for discussion between the sexes, or in the presence of children. Large families and financial hardship force many women to space pregnancies. Women often have to hide contraceptives from their husbands, difficult in conditions without privacy. Therefore they prefer IUDs, but some use oral contraceptives, although sometimes erratically because most are illiterate. Traveller women are usually unwilling to do self-examination, as needed with IUDs. They often have difficulty attending regular Pap smear clinics. Cervical cancer rates are high. They experience discrimination in clinics, and need extra care about modesty. It is worth while to take time to develop trust in the clinical relationship, to deal with the traveller woman's uneasy among outsiders.
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