Social inequalities in cervical cancer screening: a discrete choice experiment among French general practitioners and gynaecologists

• Published in: BMC health services research 2020-07, Vol.20 (1), p.693-10, Article 693
• Main Authors: Raginel, Thibaut, Grandazzi, Guillaume, Launoy, Guy, Trocmé, Mélanie, Christophe, Véronique, Berchi, Célia, Guittet, Lydia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Breast cancer; Cancer screening; Cervical cancer; Choice behavior; Colorectal cancer; Cross-Sectional Studies; Demographic aspects; Early detection of cancer; Early Detection of Cancer - statistics & numerical data; Experiments; Family physicians; Female; France; General practitioners; General Practitioners - statistics & numerical data; Gynecologists; Gynecology; Health care disparities; Health care policy; Health insurance; Health services; Healthcare Disparities; Human papillomavirus; Humans; Life Sciences; Mammography; Mass Screening - statistics & numerical data; Medical screening; Middle Aged; Midwifery; Mortality; Pap smear; Papanicolaou Test - statistics & numerical data; Papillomaviridae; Practice; Prevention; Primary health care; Reimbursement; Santé publique et épidémiologie; Socioeconomic Factors; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Uterine cervical neoplasms; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - prevention & control; Womens health
• ISSN: 1472-6963; 1472-6963
• DOI: 10.1186/s12913-020-05479-w

Cervical cancer screening is effective in reducing mortality due to uterine cervical cancer (UCC). However, inequalities in participation in UCC screening exist, especially according to age and social status. Considering the current situation in France regarding the ongoing organized UCC screening campaign, we aimed to assess general practitioners' (GPs) and gynaecologists' preferences for actions designed to reduce screening inequalities. French physicians' preferences to UCC screening modalities was assessed using a discrete choice experiment. A national cross-sectional questionnaire was sent between September and October 2014 to 500 randomly selected physicians, and numerically to all targeted physicians working in the French region Midi-Pyrénées. Practitioners were offered 11 binary choices of organized screening scenarios in order to reduce inequalities in UCC screening participation. Each scenario was based on five attributes corresponding to five ways to enhance participation in UCC screening while reducing screening inequalities. Among the 123 respondents included, practitioners voted for additional interventions targeting non-screened women overall (p