Grant: Operating Grant - Priority Announcement: Population Health Interventions

Invasive cervical cancer can be prevented if women receive regular screening tests. One of the most efficient ways to ensure that women receive these tests at adequate intervals is to establish organized screening programs. Quebec is one of only two provinces that have not begun to establish an organized cervical cancer screening program and, in fact, very little is known about screening practices among women who live in this province. Because it will likely take some time for a province-wide program to be established, there is a role for local public health agencies to develop targeted programs to improve the demand and availability of screening within their jurisdiction. This project aims to describe the socio-demographic characteristics (such as age, educational attainment, income, and country of birth) of women residing on the island of Montreal who have not recently received cervical cancer screening. Additionally, we aim to describe in which neighborhoods women who have not recently been screened reside and to assess the characteristics of these neighborhoods (such as the density of physicians or the percentage of people who live in poverty) that explain the observed patterns. We will achieve these aims by analyzing data from several waves of the Canadian Community Health Survey that have been linked to a dataset that contains information on the characteristics of Montreal neighborhoods called MEGAPHONE (Montreal Epidemiologic and Geographic Analysis of Population Health Outcomes and Neighbourhood Effects). Understanding factors that predispose and enable women to be screened will permit public health decision makers to assess the need to develop programs that increase women's understanding of the importance of screening and aid women in obtaining a screening test.