Does improving communication and information for women increase attendance at colposcopy in an inner city clinic? A randomised controlled trial

Purpose: To establish whether information leaflets and appointment reminders improve attendance for diagnostic colposcopy.

Design & setting: Randomised controlled trial in an inner city colposcopy clinic.

Participants: 500 women newly referred to the colposcopy clinic with abnormal cervical screening smear results were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group using computer-generated numbers.

Intervention: 233 women referred for colpoposcopy were sent a comprehensive information leaflet with their appointment details and additionally were sent reminder letters regarding their appointment 7-10 days prior to their appointment date.

Control: 267 women were sent the standard basic information prior to their appointment.

Main outcome measure: Attendance and default rates for diagnostic colposcopy.

Results: Default in the intervention arm was 42 out of 233 (18%) compared with 93 out of 267 (35%) in the control arm.

Conclusion: Improved communication and information in the form of a detailed leaflet and a reminder letter for women with a recently abnormal smear result increased attendance for initial colposcopy assessment.

Colposcopy; Attendance rates; Women's communication; Women's information

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