Does personalised advise about cervical and breast cancer screening effects women’s intention to be screened?

Nataliia Ponzel, Pavlo Kolesnyk

Keywords: Ukrainian Internally Displaced Women, Screening, Breast Cancer, Cervical Cancer, General practice/family medicine, Primary care

Background:

Ukraine lacks state breast and cervical cancer screening programs which can contribute to the underestimation and overlooked of cancer screening. The ongoing war has led both doctors and population to prioritize managing acute and chronic diseases rather then screening. In 2022, the detection of breast cancer through screening methods decreased from 36.9% to 28.8%, and cervical cancer - from 37.9% to 24.2% according to the Ukrainian national cancer registry.

Research questions:

How much does GPs provision of personalized information about cervical and breast cancer screening affect internally displaced women's (IDPW) intentions to be screened?

Method:

Readiness for breast and cervical cancer screening of IDPW(aged 21-74) will be assessed using a validated questionnaire. Participants will be randomly assigned to 2 groups:
-Group A (receive motivation consulting sessions from GPs and personal intended screening plan developed by designed web-based program “Screening Advisor”)
-Group B (receive standard GP consultation sessions and screening educational materials).
Both groups' screening readiness will be reassessed, allowing for comparison and evaluation of the interventions' impact.
After one month performance rate will be estimated: number of participants who have undergone suggested screening.

Results:

We seek to investigate if personalized screening recommendations suggested by “Screening Advisor” have different effect on readiness and performance then handling screening educational materials after the GP’s consultation about screening.

Conclusions:

Finding ways to increase readiness and performance of breast and cervical cancer screening is crucial for Ukrainian IDPW to prevent late diagnosis, treatment delays, and mortality during war crisis.

Points for discussion:

What is the experience of EGPRN members in providing breast and cervical cancer screening for Ukrainian refugees?

What are the ways to provide personalised information to the patients to increase readiness and performance of breast and cervical cancer screening?

Would any EGPRN colleagues like to collaborate in this research?

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