Anne M. Teitelman

Assessing Nurses' Adherence to the See-and-Treat Guidelines of Botswana's National Cervical Cancer Prevention Programme

Abstract The see-and-treat approach for cervical cancer screening [visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) followed by immediate cryotherapy] was first pilot tested in Botswana in 2009. Botswana's Ministry of Health and the Botswana-UPenn Partnership collaborated to expand see-and-treat to five additional sites throughout the country in 2014. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether nurses’ adherence to guideline-based screening was maintained during scale-up. Therefore, we compared nurses’ adherence between the pilot and scaled-up sites and determined main drivers of nonadherence across all sites. We conducted a retrospective review of 6,644 medical charts from Botswana's National Cervical Cancer Prevention Programme between February 2014 and October 2015. Using multivariable regression modeled with generalized estimating equations, we determined whether nurses’ adherence to the see-and-treat guideline differed between the pilot and scale-up sites after controlling for significant covariates. Overall, adherence to the guideline was high (88.4%). Although the scaled-up sites had higher adherence compared with the pilot site (90.9% vs. 80.2%, respectively), the difference between sites was not statistically significant in the multivariable model (P = 0.221). Of the nonadherent clinical encounters, the three most frequent visit types were VIA not performed (178, 23.3%), VIA negative: HIV unknown (163, 21.3%), and VIA negative: HIV negative (144, 18.9%). The most common reason for nonadherence was misspecification of follow-up times. Despite known challenges of scaling-up health innovations in resource-limited settings, our study shows that nurses maintained guideline-adherent care in Botswana's national see-and-treat program. The successful scale-up may have been attributable to the program's intensive quality assurance monitoring.

Evaluating Now I Know mHealth intervention promoting HPV vaccine completion among young women attending federally supported clinics

Abstract Purpose This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, usability, and HPV vaccine completion rate of the Now I Know (NIK) mHealth intervention to promote HPV vaccine completion among minority and low-income young women. Methods This quasi-experimental pilot study recruited 35 women aged 18–26 at two federally supported outpatient clinics in a large city in the Northeastern United States. Participants were allocated to two groups: 24 received the NIK intervention plus usual care and 11 received usual care only. After completing a baseline assessment, intervention group participants launched the NIK mobile app, which entailed HPV vaccine education, self-managed vaccine record & reminder, and Q&A features. Follow-up visits were conducted at 2 and 6 months. Feasibility was assessed through screening, recruitment, fidelity, and retention. Acceptability and usability were evaluated via survey and exit interview. The primary outcome—HPV vaccine 3-dose series completion—was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results This study demonstrated feasibility by reaching the recruitment target (n = 35) and high retention rate (89%). Participants reported the app was acceptable, appreciating reliable information, convenient access, providing a personal touch, and raising awareness. Regarding usability, users found the app easy to navigate, accessible, well organized, and user-friendly. The HPV vaccine completion rate was higher in the intervention group (55%) than in the usual care group (45.5%). Conclusion Findings showed improved vaccination completion among those using the Now I Know mHealth intervention (compared to usual care), acceptability of the intervention, and feasibility of recruiting, retaining, and delivering the intervention to promote HPV vaccine completion among young women in federally subsidized healthcare settings.