Educational Interventions for Cervical Cancer Screening Behavior of Women: A Systematic Review

Document Type : Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Authors

1 Student Research Committee, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

2 Midwifery and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

3 Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

4 Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Life style Institute, Faculty of Nursing, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide; early detection can play
a key role in reducing the associated morbidity. The objective of this study was to systematically assess the effects of
educational interventions on cervical cancer screening (CCS) behavior of women. Methods: In this review the Cochrane
library, Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus and search engine of Google scholar were searched for all
interventional studies (trails, pre- and post-test or quasi-experimental) published in 2000-2017 for a systematic review,
The search was based on the following keywords: cervix cancer, uterine cervical neoplasms, screening, prevention and
control, Papanicolaou Test, pap test, pap smear, education, intervention, systematic review. Due to the heterogeneity
of the data, a qualitative analysis was performed. Results: Thirty seven articles with 15,658 female participants in
different parts of world were included in the review. About three quarters of the articles covered behavior change
interventions. About one fourth of the articles were based on health education methods. The heath belief model is
the most popular used framework for cervical cancer screening interventions. The results of our study showed that
different health education methods (such as calls, mailed postcards, mother/daughter education. consultation sessions,
picture books, videos, PowerPoint slides, small group discussions, educational brochures, radio broadcast education,
lecture presentations, tailored counseling and a fact sheet, Self-learning package, face-to- face interviews and etc) are
effective in modifying cervical cancer screening behavior of women. Conclusions: Our results showed that the different
interventions and health behavior change frameworks provide an effective base for cervical cancer prevention. Heath
providers can chose educational methods based on the particular client situations.

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