Study aims to remove cancer screening barriers
While national cancer screening programmes play a leading role in saving lives and help to increase survival rates, figures show a significant low uptake among Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women.
A research team led by the University of Sunderland’s Dr Floor Christie-de Jong is now looking to address this imbalance through a new study, fundedbytheScottishGovernment's Screening Inequalities Fund.
Existing studies suggest barriers and facilitators to breast, bowel, and cervical cancerscreeningsarecomplex – ranging from a lack of awareness to emotional, practical, cultural and religious factors.
Therefore, the research team members are evaluating whether faith-based interventions could play a part in the promotion of screening.
Religion can be seen as a barrier to stop women from goingforscreening,butothers believeitcouldbeusedinstead as a facilitator to encourage women to attend these vital check-ups.
Dr Christie-de Jong, a senior lecturer in public health, said: “In collaboration with Muslim women, this project aims to develop a culturally acceptable intervention – with faith-based messages which promotes participation in breast, bowel and cervical screeningthatcouldbeutilised in the promotion of screening.
“The intervention could be developed further and tested for effectiveness on a larger scale if this initial project proves successful.
“Faith-based interventions have real potential to promote health and healthcare seeking behaviour among multiple populations and multiple religions.”
Findings from this project could be transferred to other cancer screening.