Cervical-uterine cancer is a disease of high incidence and prevalence in Brazil. The objective of the present study was to understand what women experience when facing the process of becoming ill due to cervical-uterine cancer. A descriptive exploratory study was carried out in the first trimester of 2002 at a reference service for cancer care in Fortaleza-CE. Twenty women with cervical-uterine cancer were investigated by means of a semi-structured interview, with the responses being categorized as follows: 1. barriers that impair prevention; 2. coping: from the visit to the diagnosis of cancer; 3. lack of knowledge about the course of the disease; and 4. attachment to people and to religiosity. The results showed that most women were from the interior of the State and were 30 to 50 years old; 75% had middle school education; 85% lived on one to two minimum wages, and 45% had not submitted to a Papanicolaou test. When facing the disease, they indicated feelings of anxiety, fear and panic. They also reported lack of information and stated that they recurred to religion as a strategy to cope with cancer. Some risk factors were mentioned, the most important among them: absence of a preventive examination or lack of compliance with it, living with persons of scarce socioeconomic resources, and difficulty of access to health services.
Cervix neoplasms; Oncologic nursing; Women