General Practitioners knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding cervical cancer screening in Australia
Key objective:
To investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices of General Practitioners with regards to cervical cancer screening in Australia
In Australia, the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) has been an important public health achievement. General practitioners (GPs) are the main providers and have been crucial to this success. This study assesses the views of GPs about the value of the Pap smear tests, their knowledge of the current screening policy, awareness of new technologies and concerns of litigation.
Completed questionnaires were returned from 452 GPs. GPs are generally supportive of the NCSP guidelines; 88.5% agree with the 2 yearly screening interval. However, half believe the age range should be increased to include older and younger patients. Factors most important in recommending a Pap test were time since last test and false negative rate. Least important factors were; patient age, socio-economic status and cost. There are notable differences between male and female GPs. Female GPs were more likely to: support the 2 yearly screening interval; advocate expansion of the age range to include younger and older patients; be familiar with new technologies; offer opportunistic screening; and be at ease with patients from different cultural/religious backgrounds. Male GPs were more concerned about legal implications of over and under-screening.
While the NCSP is generally well supported by GPs there are differences in the knowledge and views of male and female GPs. This information is essential if we are to optimise the effectiveness of GPs as providers of cervical screening, improve the rate of appropriate utilisation and successfully implement future changes to the NCSP.
This work was presented at the HSRAANZ in Auckland 2007, a paper has been submitted for peer-review and a CHERE Working Paper has been produced.
Funding source
NH&MRC Program Grant
CHERE staff
Stephen Goodall, Marion Haas, Rosalie Viney, Denzil Fiebig
