Medicine

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Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute
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Development of a theory-based psychoeducational intervention for cervical cancer screening

A group of women hugging

The aim of this project is to develop a theory-based psycho-educational intervention to alleviate the adverse psychological after-effects of colposcopy and related management procedures, such as punch biopsies and LLETZ.

This workpackage is building directly on our work in CERVIVA Phase 1, including our longitudinal quantitative study of psychological impact and health-related quality of life in women attending colposcopy. As part of this workpackage, we conducted a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with women about their experiences of colposcopy and psychological after-effects. The findings of this study have been written up and submitted for review at a scientific journal. We undertook the first ever systematic review of the adverse psychological after-effects of colposcopy and related procedures.

Currently, we our using the results of the longitudinal quantitative study, qualitative study on women’s experiences of colposcopy and the systematic review to inform the development of an appropriate based psycho-educational intervention to alleviate the adverse psychological after-effects of colposcopy and related procedures.

The workpackage is leveraging the experience that the CERVIVA investigator, Dr Sharp, has gained in the investigation of the psychosocial impact of low-grade smears in the UK population-based TOMBOLA trial and is also taking advantage of the expertise the team have gained in the development of theory-based interventions in the ATHENS (A Trial of HPV Education and Support) study. ATHENS is an add-on to CERVIVA in which we are currently developing a behavioural change intervention to support GPs and practice nurses in dealing with issues around HPV infection, vaccination and testing in their clinical practice. The team investigator, Dr O’Connor, has worked extensively on studies conducted in CERVIVA Phase 1. This has enabled her to gain experience and knowledge of the psychological aspects of cervical screening and the challenges facing policy makers and women attending for cervical screening. CERVIVA Workpackage 3/CERVIVA ICE is also benefiting from with two experienced health psychologists, one at Dublin City University and one at University College London, to develop the most effective and appropriate intervention.