Ashleigh R Sharman*, Verity Chadwick, Kirsty F Bennett, Samantha Rowbotham, Kirsten J Mc-Caffery, Rachael H Dodd
Background: The incidence and mortality of cervical cancer has steadily declined since the introduction of Australia’s National Cervical Screening Program, however changes to the program in 2017 have caused some confusion among participants. We examined how women receive and interpret their results, and any outstanding information needs in light of screening program changes.
Methods: Women aged 25 years-74 years who received a cervical screening test after 2017 were recruited via social media and citizen science organizations. Participants answered short questionnaires providing demographic data, the mode of receiving cervical screening test results, interpretation of these results, levels of distress, whether additional information was sought, and if there were unanswered questions.
Results: The 465 participants reported wide variation in the process of result dissemination; the majority (43.4%) received their results verbally from a GP or practice nurse, and many reported seeking or wanting to receive additional information. This raises a number of key issues including the adoption of new media forms for communicating results, provision of scientific versus lay-person wording of results, and the potential to use existing healthcare portals to record and provide access to information.
Conclusion: Given the great variability in how women receive their results, there is a need to address the current standards of practice and consider women’s information needs about their test results.
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