Effect of a community action intervention on cervical cancer screening rates in rural Australian towns: The CART project

Background:

The effect of community action on cervical cancer screening rates was explored in 20 rural Australian towns.

Methods: Town quarterly Pap test counts, from the Australian Health Insurance Commission, were converted to town rates using Census populations. Pap test rates for 12 quarters before and after mobilization were examined.

Results:

Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests demonstrated significantly higher per capita Pap test rates pre- to postmobilization for intervention towns compared to matched control towns for women whose last Pap test was more than 2 years ago (P = 0.008). Maximum efficiency robust tests examining the equality of mean differences (intervention-control) of per capita rates between pre- and post-mobilization periods also found significant differences for Pap tests where last procedure was between 1 and 2 years ago (R = 13.9, P = 0.039) and near significance for Pap tests where last procedure was less than one year ago (R = 10.6, P = 0.087).

Conclusions: It appeared that underscreened women were more likely and overscreened women were less likely to have a Pap test in response to the intervention. The results indicate that a community action program can positively impact cervical cancer screening rates.