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Assessing the Acceptability, Feasibility, and Effectiveness of a Tablet-Based Cervical Cancer Educational Intervention

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Abstract

Cervical cancer is a common and deadly disease, especially in developing countries. We developed and implemented an interactive, tablet-based educational intervention to improve cervical cancer knowledge among women in rural Malawi. Chichewa-speaking adult women in six rural villages participated. Each woman took a pretest, participated in the lesson, and then took a posttest. The lesson included information on cervical cancer symptoms, causes, risk factors, prevention, and treatment. Over the 6-month study period, 243 women participated. Women ranged in age from 18 to 77 years. Only 15 % had education beyond primary school. Nearly half of participants (48 %) had heard of cervical cancer prior to viewing the lesson. For these women, the median number of correct responses on the pretest was 11 out of 20; after the lesson, they had a median of 18 correct responses (p < 0.001). After the intervention, 93 % of women indicated a desire for cervical cancer screening. Despite lack of familiarity with computers (96 %), most women (94 %) found the tablet easy to use. A tablet-based educational program was an effective, feasible, and acceptable strategy to disseminate cervical cancer information to women with low education in rural Malawi. This method may be appropriate to distribute health information about other health topics in low-resource settings.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Annie-Laurie McRee for her support of this project. We also thank Jeff Rogers and the staff of Child Legacy International, particularly Gladson Mopiwa, Joana Banda, Venson Banda, Lydia Nkhoma, Mike Msesa, Jonathan Kandodo, and Patrick Nampandeni.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    M. M. Caster

  2. Division of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    A. H. Norris

  3. Child Legacy International, Lilongwe, Malawi

    C. Butao & E. Chemey

  4. School of Medicine and Health Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    P. Carr Reese

  5. Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Lilongwe, Malawi

    J. Phuka

  6. Division of Infectious Diseases, College of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    A. N. Turner

Authors
  1. M. M. Caster
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  2. A. H. Norris
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  3. C. Butao
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  4. P. Carr Reese
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  5. E. Chemey
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  6. J. Phuka
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  7. A. N. Turner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. N. Turner.

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Conflict of Interest

No competing financial interests exist.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the OSU College of Medicine Bennett Research Scholarship (MC) and the Ohio State Critical Difference for Women Scholarship (MC). Support for this project was also provided by the Ohio State University Institute for Population Research through a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health, P2CHD058484. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official view of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes of Health.

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C. Butao is deceased

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Caster, M.M., Norris, A.H., Butao, C. et al. Assessing the Acceptability, Feasibility, and Effectiveness of a Tablet-Based Cervical Cancer Educational Intervention. J Canc Educ 32, 35–42 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-015-0953-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-015-0953-6

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