Emotional barriers pose the greatest threat to cervical cancer screening for young adult women in the United Kingdom

Objective

Low cervical screening coverage rate is the root-cause of cervical cancer mortality in the United Kingdom (UK), with 99 % of deaths being considered preventable. Research has consistently categorised reasons for non-attendance into emotional, practical, and cognitive barriers. Despite this, public health interventions have been unable to improve coverage rates. We propose a lifespan perspective is needed, to enable targeted interventions at appropriate milestones (i.e., common life events) during a woman's life. We start this lifespan perspective by investigating the perceived barriers young women report, who have and have not yet been invited to their first cervical screen (i.e., a common life event).

Methods

Twenty-nine women not yet invited to their first cervical screen and twenty women who confirmed they received their invite and confirmed attendance status, rated the likelihood of emotional, practical, and cognitive barriers affecting their attendance at their next cervical screen. Data collected between January and April 2018.

Results

Women who did not attend their first screen, rated emotional barriers significantly higher than all groups, and cognitive barriers higher than those women who did attend. Results highlight, for the first time, that commonly reported barriers are present up to seven years prior to a woman's first eligible cervical screen, with emotional barriers rated most strongly.

Conclusion

Emotional barriers pose the greatest threat to cervical screening attendance in young adult women. Interventions should start at school to encourage cervical screening to be viewed as routine healthcare. Future research should continue a lifespan perspective, indexed to common life events.