Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners and their role in cervical screening and self-collection in Australia

Introduction: National Cervical Screening Program Guidelines suggest that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health workers and practitioners could lead self-collection cervical screening (SC) delivery. Expanding the workforce offering screening is a priority in the National Cervical Cancer Elimination Strategy. To our knowledge, there has been no consultation with the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker-practitioner workforce about their role in offering SC. We explored how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals want to be involved in delivering cervical screening and/or self-collection in the Australian National Cervical Screening Program.

Methods: In partnership with the National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners (the peak community-controlled health workforce organisation), we undertook a cross-sectional survey to understand current and desired roles of the health worker-practitioner workforce and focus-group discussions with workforce members to explore how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health worker/practitioner-led SC is currently or could work in practice,

Results: 239 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers (40%) or practitioners (60%) completed the survey with most respondents from NSW (38%) and QLD (30%). Most participants identified as women (91%), with both clinical and non-clinical responsibilities (46%), in primary care settings (62%). 85% of participants were aware of SC however only 15% had ever had any training on cervical screening. Primary care participants’ current roles were concentrated on health promotion with a resounding almost all participants (98%) wanting to offer SC within their scope of practice. We conducted 14 in-depth focus groups (n = 41 participants) and will present these data in greater depth in November 24.

Conclusions: This research aligns with strategic directions of the National Workforce Plan for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce and national elimination strategies and will create an evidence base for health worker/practitioner-led models of cancer screening.