These findings suggest that unique educational strategies need to be developed, based on the needs and perceptions of the targeted audience, in order to achieve wide-spread acceptability of this vaccine.
Armed conflict disproportionately affects women, newborns, children, and adolescents. Our study presents insights from a collection of ten country case studies aiming to assess the provision of sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition (abbreviated to women's and childern's health, i.e WCH in this paper) interventions in conflict-affected settings in Afghanistan,
Background
HPV DNA testing has been shown to be an effective approach to cervical cancer screening, and self-collection sampling for HPV testing could be a potential alternative to Pap test, provided that women who tested positive by any method get timely follow-up and care. This feasibility study examined acceptability and usability of self-collected sampling for HPV testing among African American (AA) women in the Mississippi Delta in order to inform the development of interventions to promote cervical cancer screening in this population.
Methods
The study consisted of two phases. Phase I consisted of eight focus groups (N=87) with AA women to explore knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about cervical cancer and HPV infection as well as acceptability of self-collected sampling for HPV testing. In Phase II, we examined the usability of this technology through one discussion group (N=9). The Health Belief Model guided data collection and analysis.
Results
Although participants perceived themselves as susceptible to cervical cancer and acknowledged its severity, there was a lack of knowledge of the link between HPV and cervical cancer, and they expressed a number of misconceptions. The most frequent barriers to screening included embarrassment, discomfort, and fear of the results. Women in both phases were receptive to self-collection sampling for HPV testing. All participants in the usability phase expressed that self-collection was easy and they did not experience any difficulties.
Conclusion
Self-collection for HPV testing is an acceptable and feasible method among AA women in the Mississippi Delta to complement current cytology cervical cancer screening programs.
To examine factors associated with perceived susceptibility to cervical cancer among Latina immigrants in two counties in Alabama. Datasets from two anonymous cross-sectional surveys from two studies were combined for these analyses. The total sample size was 743 women. Participants' average age was 30 ± 6.8 years and they were mainly from Mexico (89.2%). Almost 36% of the participants did not perceive themselves as being susceptible to cervical cancer, 33.9% did not know if they were susceptible, and 30.4% perceived themselves as susceptible. Educational attainment, thinking they may have been exposed to an STI in the past, thinking they may be at risk of HPV currently, having had a Pap smear within the last year, and having a relative with cancer were significantly associated with perceived susceptibility to cervical cancer in the multinomial logistic regression. Greater knowledge about cervical cancer risk factors reduced the uncertainty about perceived susceptibility. Perceived susceptibility to cervical cancer seems to be influenced more importantly by the current or past perception of HPV/STI exposure, and by having a relative with cancer. This finding is critical in the development of interventions that are tailored to Latina immigrants as well as efforts to educate providers in a state where Latino immigration is a recent phenomenon.
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