Coverage of the UK National Health Service Cervical Screening Programme is declining. Researchers could stimulate under-screened women whose daughters participate in the HPV vaccination program to attend. We investigated whether factors associated with the vaccination program changed mothers’ intentions for future screening.
Researchers sent questionnaires to 2387 mothers of girls across two North West primary care trusts to assess the HPV vaccination program’s effect on screening intentions. This identified mothers whose intentions had changed. Researchers sought consent to contact them for a semi-structured interview to discuss their screening intentions.
97/606 women responding to the questionnaire had changed their views about cervical screening. Researchers interviewed Twenty-three women, ten of whom expressed a positive change and thirteen no change. Mothers who made a favorable change decision recognized their daughters’ risk of cervical cancer, the need for future screening, and the importance of their example. In this way, daughters became ‘significant others’ in reinforcing their mothers’ cervical screening motivation.
The study concluded that a daughter’s invitation for HPV vaccination instigates a reassessment of cervical screening intention in some under-screened mothers.
Reference: https://srh.bmj.com/content/42/2/119
