Background: Previous research has suggested that exclusive breastfeeding is likely to be
Key Points Knowledge and fear may act as barriers to cervical screening Women (N = 402) received no information about screening, statistical information or barrier-tackling information Statistical and barrier-tackling information improved knowledge of how frequently women should be screened Barrier-tackling information reduced the false belief that screening tests for cancer Screening intention did not vary between the conditionsKeywords: cancer; oncology; cervical screening; barriers; knowledge; fear 3 BackgroundMany countries have routine cervical screening programmes. For example, the UK's callrecall programme invites women to be screened every 3-5 years, depending on their age.However, in the UK approximately 22% of women are not screened as often as recommended [1]. Knowledge may be a barrier to screening [2]. Indeed, women are unlikely to be screened if they have the false belief that screening is only necessarily if they have symptoms [3] or that screening tests for cancer [4]. Moreover, although the UK's call-recall programme reminds women to attend screening, research suggests that women are unlikely to attend if they are unaware of how often they should be screened [4]. Therefore, it is important to develop interventions that tackle these knowledge-barriers.The fear of a positive result is also likely to predict screening. However, some evidence suggests fear deters screening [5], whilst other research suggests it promotes screening [4]. Fear is likely to promote health behaviours when this behaviour is viewed as an effective strategy for overcoming a threat [6]. Indeed, research has suggested that fear may promote screening when it is thought to put one's mind at ease [7]. Therefore, interventions also need to promote beneficial responses to fear.Given that women are likely to be screened when they are knowledgeable about screening and believe that it is a beneficial response to fear, researchers have argued that interventions should aim to tackle these barriers in order to improve screening attendance [4].However, there are a lack of empirically supported interventions that tackle these barriers.Therefore, this pilot study tested whether an intervention that targets the knowledge-barriers and promotes beneficial responses to fear improves screening intention. 4 Methods DesignThis online study used an experimental between-participants design. As such, participants were randomly allocated into one of the three conditions: pure control, information control or barrier-tackling condition. The dependent variables were cervical screening intentions, the knowledge-barriers and fear. ParticipantsBetween February-April 2016, participants were recruited using adverts distributed via email, social media, and online forums. To take part, participants had to be eligible for the NHS cervical screening programme (i.e., female, aged 25-64 years and live in the UK).Participants were ineligible if they were pregnant or had received a total hysterectomy. There were 402 eligible women who completed the study (Ma...
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