Gregory D. Zimet

Communicating Cervical Cancer Screening Results in Light of New Guidelines: Clinical Practices at Federally Qualified Health Centers

New guidelines for cervical cancer screening (CCS) incorporate both HPV and Pap tests, and there is a need to understand communication of these cotesting results to patients, especially in at-risk populations disproportionally affected by cervical cancer. This study used computer-assisted telephone interviews in 2017 at 51 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in Indiana to evaluate the characteristics of clinical communication CCS results to women. Results revealed that clinical communication practices varied on channel, timing, and content. Almost half of the clinics (

Preferred Location for Human Papillomavirus Self-Sampling for Cervical Cancer Screening

To examine associations among women's preferred locations for human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling in relation to their demographic, social, and health characteristics and their perceived benefits and concerns regarding this procedure. Cross-sectional, descriptive survey. Online distribution between March 2022 and April 2022. People who were assigned female sex at birth and were eligible for cervical cancer screening (N = 367: cis-gender women, n = 364; another gender identity, n = 3). We used quota sampling to obtain a racially and ethnically diverse sample. We conducted bivariate analyses to examine differences in participants' preferred locations for HPV self-sampling by sociodemographic and health characteristics. We used a multinomial logistic regression model to examine the associations between preferred HPV self-sampling location, characteristics of participants, and perceived benefits and concerns regarding this procedure. In our sample, 43% (n = 158) of participants preferred HPV self-sampling at the office of a health care provider, 50% (n = 182) preferred HPV self-sampling anywhere (office or home), and 7% (n = 27) did not feel comfortable with HPV self-sampling anywhere. Participants 39 to 45 years of age were more likely to prefer HPV self-sampling anywhere (office or home) than participants 27 to 32 years of age, OR = 2.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.21, 5.06]. Participants who preferred HPV self-sampling anywhere perceived greater benefit related to limited geographic access to a clinic compared to those who preferred office only, OR = 1.82, 95% CI [1.08, 3.07]. Participants who preferred HPV self-sampling anywhere had less concern related to performing the procedure accurately than those who preferred office only, OR = 0.44, 95% CI [0.31, 0.62]. HPV self-sampling is an alternative strategy to increase cervical cancer screening. As providers consider implementation of HPV self-sampling, our findings suggest that office and home-based collection strategies should be considered to increase access to cervical cancer screening.