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Use of a Linguistically Appropriate Decision Aid for Cervical Cancer Screening of South Asian Ethnic Minority Women in Hong Kong: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial

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Abstract

Background

Decision aids have been shown to be effective in assisting the decision-making process in healthcare settings. This study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a linguistically appropriate printed decision aid for cervical cancer screening in South Asian women and to preliminarily estimate its effects on decisional conflicts, clarity of values, risk perception, the screening decision and screening uptake.

Methods

This was a pilot randomised controlled trial. Forty-eight South Asian women aged 25 to 64 years were recruited and allocated to either the intervention group or control group. The participants in the intervention group read a linguistically appropriate printed decision aid.

Results

All of the participants in the intervention group agreed that the decision aid was useful in aiding their decision-making. These participants showed significantly greater improvement in decisional conflicts, clarity of values and risk perceptions than those in the control group (all p < 0.05). The screening uptake rate was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

The decision aid was feasible and acceptable among South Asian women, and it resulted in reduced decisional conflict and increased screening uptake compared with usual care. To improve the convenience of using decision aids, they could be developed in various forms, such as printed and mobile application forms, to meet individual requirements.

Trial Registration

The trial was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on 23 October 2021 (ChiCTR2100052225).

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [D.N.S.C.], upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the South Asian women who participated in this study. We thank Ms Szesiu Wong from C House for her professional input on the graphic design and overall layout of the printed decision aid and its production. We thank the healthcare professionals, educators and the South Asian women in the development and validation phases for their input and suggestions on the language use and the content of the draft printed decision aid. We also thank Dr Chura Thapa, Ms Begum Nasara and Ms Baljit Chohan, who took the time to translate the decision aid into Nepali, Urdu and Hindi versions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 6-8/F, Esther Lee Building, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Dorothy N. S. Chan, Kai Chow Choi, Cho Lee Wong & Winnie K. W. So

  2. Yan Chai Hospital, Hospital Authority, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Ning Fan

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  1. Dorothy N. S. Chan
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  2. Kai Chow Choi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dorothy N. S. Chan.

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Ethics Approval

All of the procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Research Ethics Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

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Informed consent was obtained from all of the participants in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chan, D.N.S., Choi, K.C., Wong, C.L. et al. Use of a Linguistically Appropriate Decision Aid for Cervical Cancer Screening of South Asian Ethnic Minority Women in Hong Kong: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial. Int.J. Behav. Med. 30, 878–890 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-022-10143-0

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