De-stigmatising human papillomavirus in the context of cervical cancer: a randomised controlled trial

• Published in: Psycho-oncology (Chichester, England) England), 2010-12, Vol.19 (12), p.1329-1339
• Main Authors: Kwan, Tracy T. C., Tam, Kar-fai, Lee, Peter W. H., Lo, Sue S. T., Chan, Karen K. L., Ngan, Hextan Y. S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Cervical cancer; Chinese women; Consumer Health Information - methods; Female; Genitals; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; High risk; Hong Kong; HPV education; Human papillomavirus; Human papillomaviruses; Humans; Infection; Intention; Logistic Models; Middle Aged; Motivation; Oncology; Papillomaviridae; Papillomavirus Infections - prevention & control; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - ethnology; Patient Education as Topic; Perceptions; Risk; Risk Factors; Stereotypes; Stereotyping; stigma; Stigmatization; Surveys and Questionnaires; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - ethnology; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - prevention & control; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - virology
• ISSN: 1057-9249; 1099-1611
• DOI: 10.1002/pon.1706

Objective: To identify the components of a human papillomavirus (HPV) message contributing to reducing the stigma of HPV in cervical cancer. Methods: 294 ethnic Chinese women attending a community‐based clinic in Hong Kong were randomly allocated to read one of three written HPV messages: Group ‘lr+hrHPV’: low‐risk and high‐risk HPVs facts, Group ‘hrHPV’: high‐risk HPV facts only and Group ‘ds+hrHPV’: high‐risk HPV facts and de‐stigmatising components, namely being anti‐stereotypical, motivational and low in complexity. Main outcome measures were high‐risk HPV‐related sexual stigma, knowledge, attitude towards message, and intention to be HPV‐tested measured by self‐administered questionnaires immediately before and after reading. Results: Message allocation had a significant effect on sexual stigma (F=5.219, p=0.006). Participants who read message ds+hrHPV showed the least stigma, and were significantly less likely to believe that high‐risk HPV infection implicated promiscuity, non‐monogamy or that monogamy offered complete protection against high‐risk HPV. The genital HPV‐focused message was more stigmatising than cervical cancer‐focused messages. Of all participants, 93% (237/254) and 97% (260/269) indicated a positive intention to be HPV‐tested before and after reading, respectively. There were no between‐group differences noted in terms of knowledge and intention to be HPV‐tested before or after reading. Conclusions: Our findings show that an HPV message containing specific de‐stigmatising components may reduce public stigma towards high‐risk HPV. Also, focusing solely on high‐risk HPV in the context of cervical cancer helps to avoid the stigmatising effect of genital warts from tainting perceptions about high‐risk HPV infection. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.