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 in a randomized controlled trial.
Methods: The participants were women aged 20-69 years who were about to undergo cervical cancer screening at health centers. Before the screening, they received hypothetical screening results, with a leaflet (intervention group, n = 493) or without it (control group, n = 479), randomly. Their psychological distress and intention to undergo further examination were then compared between the intervention and control groups.
Results: After the intervention (providing a leaflet with hypothetical screening results), 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.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; Cervical cancer screening; False-positive results; Psychological distress; Randomized control trial; Screening notification.