Education efforts may contribute to wider acceptance of human papillomavirus self-sampling

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics of participants (N=540)

Characteristics	N (%)
Age (years)
Median	43 (range 30–65)
30–39	230 (42.6)
40–49	173 (32.0)
50–65	137 (25.4)
Marital status
Married/living with a partner	326 (60.4)
Single	214 (39.6)
Education
No formal education	32 (5.9)
Primary	163 (30.2)
High school	263 (48.7)
University or other degree	82 (15.2)
Number of different sexual partners
Mean	4.3 (range 1–30)
Age at first sexual intercourse (years)
Mean	17 (range 6–29)
History of previous screening
Yes	86 (15.9)
No	454 (84.1)
Knowledge about HPV and cervical cancer
Poor knowledge	456 (84.4)
Good knowledge	84 (15.6)

Abbreviation: HPV, human papillomavirus.

Table 2 Acceptability according to knowledge and history of previous screening (N=540)

	Poor knowledge N (%)	Good knowledge N (%)	P-valuea
Embarrassment			0.2
Yesb	4 (0.9)	2 (2.4)
Pain			0.6
Yesb	8 (1.8)	2 (2.4)
Anxiety			0.3
Yesb	6 (1.3)	2 (2.4)
Confidence			0.3
Nob	10 (2.2)	0 (0)
Discomfort			0.7
Yesb	14 (3.1)	3 (3.6)
Relaxation			0.1
Nob	59 (12.9)	6 (7.1)
Complexity			0.6
Yesb	8 (1.8)	0 (0)
Total	456 (84.4)	84 (15.6)

Notes:

a Fisher’s exact test was used to analyze the results. The test was considered as statistically significant when the P-value was <0.05;

b category “no” includes the answers “none” and “low”, category “yes” includes answers “moderate” and “high”.

Table 3 Acceptability scores for individual parameters for self-HPV and physician-HPV

	Self HPV (n=540)	Physician sampling (n=86)	P-valuec
Embarrassmenta	1.061	1.709	P<0.001
Paina	1.143	1.860	P<0.001
Anxietya	1.106	1.814	P<0.001
Discomforta	1.196	1.744	P<0.001
Relaxation (reverse score)b	1.352	1.919	P<0.001
Confidence (reverse score)b	1.128	1.105	P=0.91
Total acceptability score	6.986	10.151

Notes:

a 1: none; 2: low; 3: moderate; 4: high;

b 1: high; 2: moderate; 3: low; 4: none;

c Mann–Whitney test was used to analyze the results. The test was considered as statistically significant when the P-value was <0.05.

Abbreviation: HPV, human papillomavirus.