Mahomed, KayEvans, DeniseSauls, CelesteRichter, Karin LouiseSmith, JenniferFirnhaber, Cindy2015-07-202015-07-202014-03-11Mahomed, K, Evans, D, Sauls, C, Richter, K, Smith, J & Firnhaber, C 2014, 'Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing on self-collected specimens: perceptions among HIV positive women attending rural and urban clinics in South Africa', Pan African Medical Journal, vol. 17, art. no. 189, pp. 1-7.1937-868810.11604/pamj.2014.17.189.3454http://hdl.handle.net/2263/49112INTRODUCTION: Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cervical cancer is treatable if detected timeously, yet only 20% of South African women have ever been for a Pap smear in their lifetime due to limited access to screening, transport or child care responsibilities. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the acceptability of self-collection for cervical cancer screening. We aimed to identify which self-collection device women prefer and if they would consider using them for routine cervical cancer screening. METHODS: HIV-positive women (>18 years) from urban and rural HIV clinics were interviewed following an education session on HIV, human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. Participants were shown three self-collection devices; (i) an Evalyn cervical brush, (ii) a Delphilavager and (iii) a tampon-like plastic wand before completing a short questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 106 women from the urban (n=52) and rural (n=54) clinic were interviewed. Overall 51% of women preferred the cervical brush, while fewer women preferred the tampon-like plastic wand (31%) or lavage sampler (18%). More than 75% of women from the rural site preferred the cervical brush, compared to 22% from the urban site (p<0.001). Women from the urban clinic preferred the tampon-like plastic wand (45%) and then the lavage sampler (33%), as compared to women from the rural clinic (19% and 4%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Women from urban or rural settings had different preferences for the various self-collection devices. Patient self-collection with HPV testing may be an acceptable way to improve coverage to cervical cancer screening in high risk HIV-seropositive women.en© et al. The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.HIV-positive womenHuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV)Self-collectionHuman papillomavirus (HPV)AcceptabilityCervical cancerResource-limited settingSouth Africa (SA)Article