Aspects of emotional and physical discomfort in gynecologic examination: A study of Turkish women

Aim This cross-sectional study was carried out to determine physical and emotional discomforts experienced before and after a gynecologic examination by women who presented to the outpatient clinic of the gynecology and obstetrics department at a university hospital. Material and Methods The sample of study was composed of 248 women. Data were collected with a survey form developed by researchers. T-test and variance analysis were used in statistical analysis. Results Emotional discomfort before the examination was felt by 80.2% of the women, while 80.6% stated they felt emotional discomfort after the examination. Physical discomfort before the examination was experienced by 67.3% of the women, while 76.6% stated that they felt physical discomfort after the examination. The emotional discomfort mean score was 5.02 +/- 3.24 before examination and 4.62 +/- 3.23 after examination (0.05). The physical discomfort mean score was 3.38 +/- 3.12 before examination and 3.94 +/- 3.02 after examination and the difference between mean scores was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion The women felt more physical discomfort during the examination than they anticipated beforehand. The emotional discomfort in women who preferred a female physician was significantly higher than in those who preferred a male physician or who had no preference on the sex of their physician.