Perceived barriers to self-collected HPV testing for cervical cancer screening, and knowledge of HPV: a survey of primary healthcare smear-takers across Aotearoa New Zealand

AIMS

Cervical cancer remains a burden within Aotearoa New Zealand, with 2022 screening rates sitting 12.7% below target. The National Cervical Screening Programme has changed to primary human papillomavirus (HPV) testing for all screen-eligible people, with the aim for home self-testing. Little is known about the readiness of primary care for the change to self-testing and its associated challenges. A pilot HPV cervical cancer screening programme is being conducted in 17 practice centres. The aim of this study is to explore smear-taker knowledge at these centres about the use of primary HPV testing for cervical cancer screening.

METHODS

This is an ethically approved questionnaire study, with data from a structured web-based questionnaire sent to all smear-takers at the pilot centres.

RESULTS

We achieved a total completion rate of 57.8%. The average score for "Knowledge of HPV" was 56.5% (range=20-100%). The challenges to patient home HPV self-testing were felt to be overall "not at all" to "mildly challenging". Up to 73.3% of participants identified ongoing needs for further education.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate knowledge deficits regarding HPV testing for cervical cancer screening and a desire for the provision of further education. Overall, respondents felt that no major barriers to implementing HPV self-testing would occur.

Can storytelling of women's lived experience enhance empathy in medical students? A pilot intervention study

PURPOSE

This pilot study aimed to investigate the acceptability and efficacy of a patient storytelling intervention (live and recorded) on empathy levels of medical students.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Medical students participated in a storytelling intervention that had three components: listening to live or recorded stories from women with abnormal uterine bleeding, reflective writing, and a debriefing session. Empathy scores of students pre- and post-intervention were measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-student version (JSE-S). Students also completed a feedback survey. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse quantitative data and content analysis was used for text comments.

RESULTS

Both live and recorded storytelling interventions had positive effects on student's empathy scores post intervention. Overall, students were satisfied with the intervention and reported that it improved their understanding of life experiences of women. Suggestions were made for an in-person storytelling session and interactive discussion after listening to each story.

CONCLUSION

A storytelling intervention has the potential to improve medical students' empathy and understanding of lived experience of women with health conditions. This could be valuable when student-patient interactions are limited in healthcare settings, or to enable stories of small numbers of patient volunteers to reach students.