Table 2. List of quotes from the IDIs and FGDs of all four groups of participants.
| Nr. | Group * | Quote |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | “I don’t even know about this disease (cervical cancer); I don’t have any word to say about it, this disease has come recently.” (ESIDI01) |
| 2 | A | “[…] When this disease affects the uterus, it bleeds and sometimes produce whitish discharge which can be visible on a woman’s dress (Kemis) and causes to shrink on her buttocks. It (cervical cancer) also causes severe pain during the menstrual cycle.” (ESIDI09) |
| 3 | D | “We get this disease by exposure to evaporation coming out when we urinate on the hot ground (Gerefta) and a sudden exposure to sunlight (Mich). […] When we go to a market, we urinate on the hot ground and sit on hot stones, this is what brings cervical cancer to us. We also think it can also be caused during delivery as we give birth at home.” (HEDA04) |
| 4 | B | “I don’t think the modern treatment can identify and treat this disease, once a woman got the disease, it is all about her, her fate will be death. I have never heard someone treated and cured of this disease. It is really dangerous.” (ESFGD06) |
| 5 | A | “In my opinion, all of us can get this disease, but we don’t know why it only manifest on some women, I think it is due to God’s protection that some of us don’t show symptoms.” (ISIDI09) |
| 6 | B | “It (cervical cancer) affects a woman’s life as it leaves a uterus without function, she could no more carry a baby in her womb. This is almost equal to death; can you imagine what life will be without having a baby.” (ISFGD06) |
| 7 | A | “I really felt bad about it. First, I thought it was easy, but the experience was not easy. […] I was embarrassed to take the sample from my body (genitalia). To be honest, I did it for the sake of respecting the girls (sample collectors) who come to my home walking all that long distance. I was not totally happy about it.” (ISIDI07) |
| 8 | D | “I don’t see any benefits of this screening when I’m healthy and don’t have any symptoms of the disease; so, why I need be screened?” (HEDA02) |
| 9 | A | “[…] later, some of the residents of our local community insulted me for participating in the screening and everybody was blaming me because I said yes to those girls (sample collectors); I was really embarrassed for giving that sample to those girls.” (ISIDI07) |
| 10 | A | “I didn’t tell my husband about my participation. He told me not to participate in the screening. Even he refused the girls who were collecting the sample to enter our compound. […] But it was bad if he would have known as I gave the sample, he could even beat me.” (ISIDI 11) |
| 11 | C | “There are misconceptions in the community; some women were not willing to participate particularly wives of religious leaders were not involved in the screening program.” (DC02) |
| 12 | A | “I didn’t face a challenge to collect the sample, but you know we have used this instrument for the first time, and I felt stress. I was also afraid to use the instrument considering many things people were talking about it.” (ESIDI06) |
| 13 | C | “It wasn’t easy to show the procedure of self-sampling for some of the women; we spent a lot of time to make them understand how to use it (the self-sampling device). Some of them forgot every step of the procedure immediately after they went to their bedrooms to collect the sample,” (DC01) |
| 14 | C | “[. . . .] after we explained all the procedures to the women, they went to their bedrooms to sample themselves. We were told not to open and check the sample once the women closed and gave it to us; so, we collected a closed instrument from them, and we can’t be sure whether a woman has used it or not.” (DC03) |
| 15 | A | “Our husbands also need to learn and support us. They need to be educated on this issue (CCS), how to support their wife to participate in the screening program and give support in case she is sick from this disease.” (ESIDI08) |
| 16 | C | “[…] many women did not receive their results and those who identified having the disease were not linked to follow-up and treatment center. Currently, we feel shame to meet the community members as we have promised them to bring back their results and to link them to follow-up and treatment center in case, they are diagnosed with the disease during sample collection.” (DC02) |
* A: In-depth interviews with participants of the pilot study, B: Focus group discussion with participants of the pilot study, C: Focus group discussion with HPV sample collectors of the pilot study, D: Focus group discussion with community health workers and women’s development army leaders.