{
  "abstract": "Objective: People with physical disability experience systemic and societal barriers to accessing cervical screening. Service providers play an important role in supporting access to cervical screening for this population. In 2017 Australia’s National Cervical Screening Program introduced the choice to self-collect using a vaginal swab, with universal access available from July 2022. This study aimed to understand service providers’ perspectives on the opportunities self-collection provides to improve access to cervical screening for people with physical disability.\n\nMethods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted online between June and August 2023 with 22 clinical and non-clinical service providers from all States and Territories except the Northern Territory. The Updated Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research informed the analysis.\n\nResults: All participants believed that self-collection was a highly acceptable option, both for people with physical disability and service providers, due to its potential to reduce anxiety and discomfort for screening participants, and the opportunities it provides to increase access to screening in non-clinical settings, including at home and in supported accommodation. To date, few services providing disability support had integrated self-collection into their practice. Key barriers to offering self-collection included confusion regarding whether cervical screening was within all provider’s scope of practice, a lack of communication between the health system and the disability sector and an absence of education and resources for providers and people with disability. Attitudes toward people with disability held by healthcare providers, such as general practitioners and other health and wellbeing services, and the quality of relationships between services were seen as either barriers or enablers depending on whether these were positive or not. Several providers expressed concern that the swab may be difficult for some people with physical and sensory disability to use, with adaptations recommended.\n\nConclusion: Self-collection offers opportunities to improve access to cervical screening for people with physical disability, if supported by providers who have the required knowledge and skills.\n\nImplementation strategies to support uptake of self-collection for people with physical disability are required at the individual, device, service, and system level.\n\nSupplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-28364-3.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Evaluation and Implementation Science Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria Australia",
    "Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer, Melbourne, Australia",
    "Cancer Elimination Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW Australia",
    "Specialty of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney Medical School, at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia",
    "School of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia",
    "Independent consultant with lived experience of disability, Victoria, Australia",
    "Independent consultant with lived experience of disability, Canberra, Australia",
    "Implementation to Impact (i2i), School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia",
    "Kirby Institute, UNSW, Sydney, Australia",
    "School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW Australia"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 16,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Kate Flynn",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-6774-2557"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Tessa Saunders",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3702-9029"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Amelia Hyatt",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2322-7817"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Claire Bavor",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7981-7878"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Julia ML Brotherton",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2304-3105"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Deborah Bateson"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
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        4
      ],
      "name": "Nicola S Creagh",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0908-5453"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Karleen Plunkett"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Louise Bannister"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Madeleine Clarke"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Natalie Taylor",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0280-0883"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Paula Jops",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7916-0124"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Allison Cummins",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0626-3365"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Angela Kelly-Hanku",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0152-2954"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Megan Smith"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Claire Nightingale",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4103-6240"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8s6cafzxjp7e8.bib",
  "cited_by": 2,
  "doi": "10.1186/s12889-026-28364-3",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13753260/",
  "id": "8s6cafzxjp7e8",
  "issns": [
    "1471-2458"
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  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-28364-3",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
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      "heading",
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      "openalex",
      "2739|Women's cancer prevention and management"
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  "openalex": "W7167918890",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13753260",
  "pmid": "42432590",
  "published": "2026-07-10",
  "publisher": "BMC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8s6cafzxjp7e8.ris",
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    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-15T12:22:26Z",
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  "subjects": [
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      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2739|Women's cancer prevention and management",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
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  ],
  "title": "Optimising opportunities for self-collection to improve cervical screening access for people with physical disability in Australia: a qualitative study of service provider perspectives",
  "title_text": "Optimising opportunities for self-collection to improve cervical screening access for people with physical disability in Australia: a qualitative study of service provider perspectives",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-15T12:22:26Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8s6cafzxjp7e8",
  "venue": "BMC Public Health",
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}