Journal Article

Interventions to increase uptake of cervical screening in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review using the integrated behavioral model

Madhivanan, Purnima, McClelland, D. Jean, Ernst, Kacey, Trejo, Mario J., Adsul, Prajakta, Ehiri, John, Carvajal, Scott, Baum, Christina, Lott, Breanne E.

2020

Overview

Background Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experiences disproportionate burden of cervical cancer incidence and mortality due in part to low uptake of cervical screening, a strategy for prevention and down-staging of cervical cancer. This scoping review identifies studies of interventions to increase uptake of cervical screening among women in the region and uses the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) to describe how interventions might work. Methods A systematic search of literature was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and CINAHL databases through May 2019. Screening and data charting were performed by two independent reviewers. Intervention studies measuring changes to uptake in screening among women in SSA were included, with no restriction to intervention type, study setting or date, or participant characteristics. Intervention type and implementation strategies were described using behavioral constructs from the IBM. Results Of the 3704 citations the search produced, 19 studies were selected for inclusion. Most studies were published between 2014 and 2019 (78.9%) and were set in Nigeria (47.4%) and South Africa (26.3%). Studies most often assessed screening with Pap smears (31.6%) and measured uptake as ever screened (42.1%) or screened during the study period (36.8%). Education-based interventions were most common (57.9%) and the IBM construct of knowledge/skills to perform screening was targeted most frequently (68.4%). Willingness to screen was high, before and after intervention. Screening coverage ranged from 1.7 to 99.2% post-intervention, with six studies (31.6%) reporting a significant improvement in screening that achieved ≥60% coverage. Conclusions Educational interventions were largely ineffective, except those that utilized peer or community health educators and mHealth implementation strategies. Two economic incentivization interventions were moderately effective, by acting on participants’ instrumental attitudes, but resulted in screening coverage less than 20%. Innovative service delivery, including community-based self-sampling, acted on environmental constraints, striving to make services more available, accessible, and appropriate to women, and were the most effective. This review demonstrates that intent to perform screening may not be the major determinant of screening behavior, suggesting other theoretical frameworks may be needed to more fully understand uptake of cervical screening in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for health systems change interventions.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Africa South of the Sahara - epidemiology / Analysis / Biobehavioral Sciences / Biostatistics / Cancer / Cancer research / Cancer screening / Cervical cancer / Cervix / Computer industry / Early Detection of Cancer - methods / Early Detection of Cancer - statistics & numerical data / Education / Environmental Health / Epidemiology / Female / Global health / Health aspects / Health behavior / Health care reform / Health Services Accessibility / HIV / Human immunodeficiency virus / Human papillomavirus / Humans / Intervention / Medical screening / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Methods / Mortality / Nigeria / Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data / Population / Prevention / Public Health / Research Article / Review / Screening / Secondary prevention / South Africa / Studies / Sub-Saharan Africa / Telemedicine - statistics & numerical data / United States / Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - epidemiology / Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - prevention & control / Vaccine / Vaginal Smears - statistics & numerical data / Women's health / Womens health