Alleviating psychological distress associated with a positive cervical cancer screening result: a randomized control trial
Abstract Background: The method of communicating a positive cancer screening result should seek to alleviate psychological distress associated with a positive result. We evaluated whether the provision of information through a leaflet would help reduce psychological distress.Methods: This study design was a simple randomized controlled trial that randomly assigned individual participants to the intervention and control groups and measured outcomes before and after the intervention. The analysis included 972 women. Women received hypothetical cervical cancer screening results, with a leaflet (intervention group) or without it (control group), randomly. Outcomes were psychological distress and intention to undergo further examination.Results: After the intervention, psychological distress appeared to be higher in the control group than in the intervention group among those who received a hypothetical positive screening result (odds ratio: 2.57, 95% confidence interval: 1.87–3.54), while 95% and 97% of those in the intervention and control groups, respectively, reported that they would undergo further examination.Conclusions: Information provision might help reduce psychological distress but not hinder further examination among women who screen positive for cervical cancer.Trial registration: UMIN Clinical Trials Registry UMIN000029894. Date of Registration: November 2017.