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Breast Screening: Your Health, Your Choice
Increasing the take up of breast screening by women from minority communiities
Breast Cancer is the most common female cancer in the world with over 1 million new cases being diagnosed each year. From studying disease patterns such as death, incidents and survival rates, it is clear that the health inequality experienced by poorer communities and BME communities in the UK impacts upon women’s chances of early diagnosis and survival. (DoH (1998) Independent Enquiry into Inequalities in Health HMSO).
The NHS Breast Screening Service offers women in the UK access to screening between the ages of 50-65 at a local breast screening service. To help women from minority communities and those experiencing health inequalities to make informed choices about their breast screening requires equality of access to services through strategic and flexible models. These should help to reduce the consistent low uptake of screening services and the high quantities of advanced cancer/mortality rates presented by women from socially and economically deprived areas.
The Intervention
In 2004, diva were commissioned by the NHS Cancer Screening Programme to develop and produce a resource aimed at women in the Chinese and South Asian communities to encourage greater take up of screening services. Based on extensive research undertaken by Dr. Lai Fong Chiu at the University of Leeds, the DVD reflected the views and experiences of woman from BME communities living within the UK.
The ‘Breast Screening: Your Health, Your Choice’ DVD was developed to raise awareness of breast screening and support minority ethnic women in making an informed choice about whether or not to attend their appointment for breast screening. Four films in Mirpuri, Sylheti, Cantonese and Mandarin explore the issue through narrative and interviews. The films explore how the screening programme works, what is involved in having a mammogram, and the benefits and limitations of breast screening. Delivered through the Community Health Educator Model born out of the first breast screening Action Research Project, this tool has been adopted throughout the UK as part of an informed choice programme to access ‘difficult to reach’ groups and non attenders of breast screening services. The DVD also includes guidance for health workers and is used to facilitate and empower women to make decisions based on knowledge and access.
The films on the dvd were devised by Communication for Health, a participatory action research project involving both health professionals and members of the four language communities through the NHS Cancer Screening Programme, University of Leeds and members of the South Asian and Chinese Communities.
To find out more about Breast Screening: Your Health, Your Choice on the NHS Cancer Screening Programme click here
To view the NHS Breast Screening Programe 2004 Annual Review click here
Results
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