Objective: Rural Yunnan Province is one of the most ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse regions in China. The majority of its women have never been screened for cervical cancer. It is not known whether women would feel comfortable and ultimately even prefer using a human papillomavirus (HPV) self-swabbing method.
Methods: In a 6-day period, 3,600 women were taught the role of HPV in cervical cancer. They were then given self-swabbing instructions. After obtaining their specimens, 600 women were interviewed about their experience with HPV self-testing. The women were of the Yi, Hui, Dai, and Han ethnicities.
Results: The overwhelming majority of the women surveyed understood the self-sampling instructions (588/600, 98%) and felt comfortable carrying out the self-sampling procedure (584/600, 97%). Significantly more women (389/600, 64.8%) preferred self-sampling to having the provider (211/600, 35.2%) obtain the sample (χ = 105.61, p < .05). Women who preferred self-sampling did so primarily because they felt capable of obtaining the specimens (n = 80) or that it was a more convenient way to be tested (n = 79). The medical expertise of the provider (n = 74) and concerns over the accuracy of the test (n = 88) shifted some women's preference toward a provider-obtained sample.
Conclusions: There are 400+ million Chinese women who have never had a cervical cancer screening. Self-testing has the potential to significantly increase the number of women tested. Despite the diversity of the women screened, the majority felt comfortable self-sampling and preferred self-swabbing to provider testing.