Table 2 Summary of interventions with some evidence of effectiveness in cancer screening

From: Uptake in cancer screening programmes: a priority in cancer control

 

Breast

Cervical

Colorectal

Deprived

Lay worker/patient navigator

Telephone counselling

Tailored interventions (print and telephone)

Primary care endorsement

Workplace initiatives

Largely organisational approaches (in the United States)

Simpler tests

Telephone support

Patient navigators

Ethnic

Translation services

Community-based interventions (e.g. health educator in a group setting)

Translation services

Lay workers

Psycho-educational counselling

Culturally sensitive materials

Home visits

Video and culturally sensitive educational materials

Telephone support

Gender

N/A

N/A

Little available of proven effectiveness specifically for men

  1. Notes:
  2. The table is derived from ‘scoping’ the literature, not a systematic literature review.
  3. It includes information from many non-UK publications, therefore results may not be directly transferable to UK contexts.
  4. There is considerable overlap between population sub-groups, so interventions targeted at one community often straddle for example both ethnicity and deprivation.
  5. Not all studies are equally methodologically robust, and some have small numbers.
  6. The size of effect seen in these studies varies – some improvements were very modest, and there is little evidence regarding how sustained their impact: interventions in the future will likely need to be multi-faceted and address attitudinal, language and cultural concerns.
  7. There is a need for both additional systematic reviews in this area (focused on particular approaches and/or cancer type), and for new research studies in differing UK contexts.
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