Training health care providers to administer VIA as a screening test for cervical cancer: a systematic review of essential training components

BMC Medical Education

Research

Mauricio Maza¹  Andre L. Carvalho²  Partha Basu²  Isabel Mosquera Metcalfe²  Thea Beate Brevik³  Petter Laake⁴  Lara Rodrigues da Matta Calegari⁵  Adam Todd⁶ 

[1] Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, Unit of Noncommunicable Diseases, Violence, and Injury Prevention, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA;Early Detection, Prevention, and Infections Branch, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France;Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Care, Molde University College, Molde, Norway;Clinic of Surgery, Møre and Romsdal Hospital Trust, Molde Hospital, Molde, Norway;Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Care, Molde University College, Molde, Norway;Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Department of Biostatistics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;Mackenzie Evangelical School of Medicine, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil;School of Pharmacy, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK;Centre for Global Health Inequalities Research (CHAIN), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway;

关键词: Education, cervical cancer;    Cancer prevention;    Screening;    Training;    Women’s health, global health, systematic review;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-023-04711-5

 received in 2022-12-15, accepted in 2023-09-21,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTraining health care providers to administer visual inspection after application of acetic acid (VIA) is paramount in improving cervical cancer screening services for women in low- and middle-income countries. The objective of this systematic review was to create a framework of essential VIA training components and provide illustrating examples of how VIA training programs can be carried out in different clinical settings.MethodsA systematic review of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science (from 2006 to 2021) was undertaken. Our inclusion criteria comprised articles reporting on implemented cervical cancer screening programs using VIA in a screen-and-treat approach. Trained health care providers with any level of health education were included, and the outcome of interest was the reporting of training components. Data were extracted by two reviewers, and a narrative synthesis of the training programs was performed. We developed a framework of seven essential training components and applied it to assess how training courses were conducted in different settings.Results13 primary studies were eligible for inclusion, including 2,722 trained health care providers and 342,889 screened women. Most training courses lasted 5–7 days and included theoretical education, practical skill development, and competence assessment. It was unclear how visual aids and training in client counselling and quality assessment were integrated in the training courses. After the training course, nearly all the VIA training programs made provisions for on-job training at the providers’ own clinical settings through supervision, feedback, and refresher training.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates the feasibility of implementing international training recommendations for cervical cancer screening in real-world settings and provides valuable examples of training program implementation across various clinical settings. The diverse reporting practices of quality indicators in different studies hinder the establishment of direct links between these data and training program effectiveness. To enhance future reporting, authors should emphasize specific training components, delivery methods, and contextual factors. Standardized reporting of quality indicators for effective evaluation of VIA training programs is recommended, fostering comparability, facilitating research, and enhancing reporting quality in this field.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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