Increasing Referral Acceptance for Women's Health Services Among Hispanic Women.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of an individualized educational intervention on women's health referral acceptance rates among Hispanic women.

DESIGN: Quality improvement (QI) project.

SETTING/LOCAL PROBLEM: Barriers to cervical cancer screening among Hispanic women include a lack of access to women's health services and a lack of knowledge related to cervical cancer risk factors. Primary care providers at two medical clinics in eastern Pennsylvania did not routinely discuss cervical cancer risk factors, provide well-woman care, or perform cervical cancer screening during office visits. This gap in preventive care provided an opportunity for quality improvement.

PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 65 self-identified Hispanic women presenting for primary care office visits.

INTERVENTION/MEASUREMENTS: Each consenting participant received a one-on-one education session lasting 5 to 10 minutes regarding individual risk factors for cervical cancer. Each woman was offered a referral for a well-woman examination, with or without cervical cancer screening. Data collection included the participant's response to the offered referral.

RESULTS: The majority of participants who received the educational intervention (96.9%, n = 63) accepted referrals for women's health services.

CONCLUSION: An educational intervention discussing individual cervical cancer risk factors was associated with increased women's health referral acceptance rates among Hispanic women.