Participants
pre-cancerous or cancerous lesions
DISEASE, RECRUITMENT
Index participants were enrolled into the study if they were aged 18 years or older, had screened for CC within the past year, had stable health status (i.e., not in end stages of disease, so that they were likely to complete the 6-month study follow-up), and had shared their CC screening experience with at least one woman (alter) who they perceived to not have screened for CC in the past 3 years. Alter participants were eligible if they were at least 18 years of age, were recruited by a woman who was enrolled as an index participant, and self-reported not being screened for CC in the past 3 years. All participants had to speak either Samia or Lusoga, the two prominent languages in Namayingo district.Recruitment of index participants was purposive in order to recruit a balance of women who screened positive for signs of CC risk (pre-cancerous or cancerous lesions), and women who screened negative, so that we could assess whether this factor was associated with the outcomes measure of engagement in CC prevention advocacy. Candidates for index participation were informed of the study by health care providers and those who expressed interest were referred to the study coordinator for confirmation of eligibility and consent procedures. Women who decided to enroll were administered the baseline survey, which included listing up to 12 women in their social network. To recruit alters, we randomly selected five alters who the index participant reported as knowing her CC screening experience (or as many as there were if less than five); the index participant was then asked if she was comfortable asking three of these alters to participate. The index participant was asked to call each selected alter at the end of the interview to describe the study in the presence of the coordinator, who then scheduled a study visit if the alter expressed interest in participating. If an alter refused or could not be reached, a replacement was randomly selected from the list of alters who knew the index participant’s CC screening experience (and whom the index participant was comfortable recruiting). When screening the alter, the coordinator confirmed that the individual was not already recruited by another index. All participants provided written informed consent.