title: A systematic literature review of the effectiveness of community-based strategies to increase cervical cancer screening.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate and summarize evidence of the effectiveness of interventions available to public health staff that could be used to increase cervical cancer screening to women.
  
  
  METHODS
  A thorough literature review was conducted, articles screened for relevance and assessed for quality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 42 relevant studies, 1 was rated 'strong', 18 'moderate' and 23 'weak'. Among the strong/moderate studies, 10 were aimed at disadvantaged women. The most frequently used intervention was mass media campaigns, alone or combined with individual strategies; followed by individual education using lay health educators; and last, letters of invitation. Thirteen of the moderate/strong studies evaluated strategies that reported statistically significant increases in Pap smear rates and other outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Strategies that combined mass media campaigns with direct tailored education to women and/or health care providers seemed most successful. The importance of accurate centralized cytology databases for recall is underscored.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003256:Community Participation; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011203:Poverty; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D015397:Program Evaluation; D015980:Public Health Practice; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*