Background

Cognitive and mental factors, such as fear and embarrassment, along with the lack of counseling provision are among important barriers to uptake.

Objectives

The aim was to establish whether motivational interview could affect women’s awareness, attitude and uptake of Pap testing.

Material and methods

This randomized trial was conducted on 90 middle-aged women visiting the healthcare centers of Shazand county in 2016. Sampling was done in six urban centers. Would-be participants were identified by reviewing the profiles of middle-aged women (between 30 and 59 years) who did not keep up with routine screening and who met inclusion criteria. After obtaining their informed consent, the participants were placed in two groups (control and intervention), each with 45 subjects, using randomized block design in two blocks (A and B). Data collection instruments included a researcher-made questionnaire design-based on the research topic. In the intervention group, counseling was provided, using motivational interviewing, in five 90-minute sessions. All participants completed the questionnaire at baseline and two months after the end of the study. Collected data was analyzed with the independent t-test, Fisher’s exact test, Mann–Whitney U test and Wilcoxon test in SPSS 21.

Results

Results showed a significant difference between groups in awareness (p = 0.001) and attitude (p = 0.001) at the end of the study. Moreover, 77.8% of women in the intervention and 11.1% in the control groups chose to undergo Pap testing (p = 0.004).

Conclusions

Women’s adherence to cervical screening can be enhanced through motivational interviewing. It is also recommended to use this method for other screening tests.