Arjee Restar, Ph.D.

Tổng quan nghiên cứu

Cervical cancer remains a significant health issue despite advancements like HPV tests and Pap tests. Community health centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) provide essential health care services to 30.5 million low-income and underserved patients in the U.S., but continue to struggle with raising cervical cancer screening rates. One promising solution is HPV test self-sampling, which would allow people to collect their own samples for HPV testing. Self-sampling offers convenience, privacy and ease of use, eliminating the need for provider-collected samples. This less invasive method may encourage more people to participate in regular screening. HPV self-sampling was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2024.

This project’s overarching goal is to help FQHCs improve cervical cancer screening rates by facilitating the adoption of self-sampling. Our objective is to develop an implementation package for FQHCs that addresses their specific needs and challenges.

This implementation package will provide the materials FQHCs need to successfully integrate self-sampling into existing services. Through our project, we will:

• Identify the barriers and facilitators to self-sampling by conducting a literature review, interviews with FQHC leaders and staff and focus groups with patients. This will help us understand the specific challenges FQHCs face and how to address them effectively.
• Develop and tailor materials to support the implementation of self-sampling. We will develop HPV test self-sampling-specific procedures and workflows for FQHCs, scripts for health care providers and educational resources for patients.
• Test and refine these materials to ensure they are user-friendly and culturally appropriate.

My “Why”

My work has always focused on closing gaps in care for people who face the most barriers, whether due to poverty, geography or systems that were not designed with them in mind. Cancer screening is a clear case where we have effective tools but have not yet figured out how to best distribute them to communities in need. Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) serve millions of patients who are already navigating complex lives. I’m drawn to the implementation challenge—making something like HPV self-sampling  work in real-world settings, for real people, in ways that respect their autonomy.

Tại sao vấn đề tài trợ

This funding allows us to do the foundational work that makes implementation possible. We can talk directly with FQHC staff and patients to understand what’s getting in the way of screening and what would make self-sampling feasible in their workflows and lives. That means we can develop materials that are practical, not theoretical. Without this support, implementation research often gets skipped in favor of efficacy studies, leaving clinics to figure things out on their own. This funding enables us build the bridge between “this works” and “here’s how to do it.”