Supporting the uptake of cervical screening within communities experiencing health inequalities

Summary

We engaged women from communities with lower rates of participation in cervical screening programmes through women's wellbeing workshops and one-to-one conversations. Trained cancer champions supported women who wanted help booking an appointment and gathered structured feedback from women who weren't attending screening appointments and were willing to discuss their concerns. Our recommendations include:

• Consider targeting public health messaging at non-sexually active women from these communities. Both younger unmarried women and divorced/widowed women are wondering why they are being invited and ignoring the invitation.
• There is a need for wider education and more explicit information (for example, making effective use of diagrams and visual information) about the procedures for cervical screening. A big barrier is the lack of readily available information about the process itself.
• Most participants will need to hear the messages shared in these workshops and one-to-one conversations many times. Many of the barriers to participation in the cervical screening programme are profound and change will take time.