The Effectiveness of Cervical Cancer Screening using the HPV DNA Self-test in Thai Women Aged 30-60 Years in Khon Kaen Province.

Abstract

A cross-sectional descriptive research study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of cervical cancer screening, and the factors influenced screening outcomes using the HPV DNA self-test among Thai women aged 30-60 years in Khon Kaen Province. Secondary data from 3,081 women who requested screening kits were used, with a final sample of 746 participants. The Data were collected between May and December 2023 and analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Chi-square statistics to determine relationships between factors. Qualitative data were presented descriptively.   

The research results revealed that the average age of participants was 49.16 years (S.D. = 7.860), with the youngest being 27 and the oldest being 62 years. Women aged 51-60 made up 50.7% of the sample. The majority (88.1%) used the Universal Coverage Health Scheme (Gold Card), and 89.9% were married. Most participants (93.8%) decided to request a kit because they wanted to know their health status, and 1.5% had a history of drug allergies. Information from friends received 33.0% of participants, and 93.7% received support from the Sub-district Health Promotion Hospital. The test results showed that 90.3% were negative, while 9.7% were positive for HPV, with 7.9% of the positive cases being HPV strains 16 and 18. The factor of receiving information from friends was significantly correlated with self- test results at the 0.05 level, and the types of HPV (HPV16, HPV16/18) were significantly correlated with the self-test at the 0.001 level. Other factors showed that there were no significant correlations. Participants cited free testing, no cost, and the ability to conduct the test themselves as reasons for using the service. Recommendations include promoting self-test screening more broadly and involving village health volunteers (VHVs) in driving the expansion of access to this service.