Community awareness, access, and experiences of cervical screening following universal access to self-collection in Australia

Background

Since July 2022, Australian National Cervical Screening Guidelines have recommended anyone eligible for cervical screening be offered the choice between having their sample collected by a clinician with a speculum, or self-collection using a vaginal swab.

Method

We recruited screen-eligible people to an online survey between December 2023 and April 2024, via a paid social media (Meta) campaign, and stakeholder and community networks.

Using binary logistic regression, we assessed demographic and screening history factors associated with having previously heard of self-collection. In participants screened since July-2022, we assessed factors associated with being offered a choice between self-collection and clinician-collection; choosing self-collection (among those offered choice); and using self-collection (among all recently screened participants).

Results

Of the 9,928 participants, 70.2% had heard of self-collection. Among those screened since July 2022, 36.1% were offered a choice in screening method.

Awareness was associated with increasing age (p-trend <0.001 ), with participants aged >65 years most likely to have heard of self-collection (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.69, 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.31-2.18).

Compared to participants who self-reported regularly attending cervical screening, both not-regular and never screeners (based on self-reported screening history, frequency, age and sexual history) were less likely to have heard of self-collection (aOR:0.80 [95%CI:0.72-0.89] and aOR:0.73 [95%CI:0.56-0.96], respectively; p <0.001 ). Participants who attended a specialised women’s/sexual health clinic were more likely to have heard of self-collection (aOR:1.32 (95%CI:1.06-1.64), p; <0.001 ), and to report being offered choice (aOR:1.62 (95%CI 1.22-2.14), p <0.001 ) at their last cervical screen.

Half of the participants who were offered a choice opted for self-collection (N=803/1,617; 49.7%). Not-regular screeners were twice as likely (aOR:2.31 (95%CI:1.74-3.07), p <0.001 ) to choose self-collection as regular-screeners.

Conclusion

Given almost 50% of women nationally are now choosing self-collection, these findings imply national uptake might be close to plateauing overall. In high income settings where a choice in screening methods is introduced with the aim of improving screening equity, resources, adequate training, and health promotion tools should be provided prior to program launch to support healthcare providers in offering choice and facilitate improved participation in screening programs. Raising community awareness of screening options is important and needs to reach under-screened groups.