Beyond opportunistic Pap smears in general practice. Women's views of strategies to promote regular screening.

BACKGROUND

An opportunistic reminder for a Pap smear is effective and acceptable in general practice. Women's views of strategies to promote ongoing attendance for Pap smears were unknown at the time of this study.

OBJECTIVE

To determine women's perceptions of strategies to help them attend for their next Pap smear.

SETTING AND PATIENTS

Randomly selected male general practitioners in urban Sydney and 174 of their female patients.

RESULTS

Seventy-eight per cent response rate to a questionnaire sent after a consultation in which opportunistic screening was offered. A reminder letter from the GP was nominated as likely to help 'a lot' by at least 50 per cent of respondents. Free Pap smears and child-minding were nominated by at least 50 per cent of respondents as making 'no difference'.

CONCLUSION

This survey has explored women's perceptions of potential strategies to promote continuing Pap smear screening. Given the disappointing results when these strategies have been implemented in individual general practices, however, the authors recommend prospective controlled evaluation before widespread adoption.