Increasing participation of people with learning disabilities in bowel screening

Abstract

Learning disability nurses have a key role in addressing the health inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities are less likely to participate in bowel screening than other sectors of the population, despite there being evidence of this population being at an increased risk of developing bowel cancer. There are a range of barriers at individual and systemic levels that impact on participation in bowel screening by people with learning disabilities. Actions to address these barriers have been identified in the literature and learning disability nurses are a key agent of change in enabling people with learning disabilities to participate in the national screening programmes.

Health literacy in people with intellectual disabilities: A mixed-method literature review

“…Strengthening health literacy could lead to more healthrelated participation [15,22,23]. However, it is important that information is accessible and understandable [24] [16] and the health-related knowledge is sufficient [23,25]. People with ID often have reduced health related knowledge and difficulty understanding information, so they depend on support from learning disability nurses or GP's [22][23][24][25].…”

“…However, it is important that information is accessible and understandable [24] [16] and the health-related knowledge is sufficient [23,25]. People with ID often have reduced health related knowledge and difficulty understanding information, so they depend on support from learning disability nurses or GP's [22][23][24][25]. In order to provide this support, the communication of health professionals needs to be improved [15,22,24].…”

“…People with ID often have reduced health related knowledge and difficulty understanding information, so they depend on support from learning disability nurses or GP's [22][23][24][25]. In order to provide this support, the communication of health professionals needs to be improved [15,22,24]. Furthermore, skills like the capacity to read and write, subjective experiences with the health care system, abilities in using health information, and capacity for informed decision-making must be considered [15].…”

Challenges of colorectal cancer screening in patients with learning disabilities: the way forward

“…Although a number of UK policy documents urge that all people with LD should have equal opportunities to access the health facilities, it is very easy to be distracted from the physical health conditions because of the primary diagnosis of LD, and, therefore, underlying serious health conditions such as cancer are easily missed [4,11,12]. This is further complicated by the limited communication skills and comprehension abilities.…”

“…The report also highlighted that people with LD had a variable degree of involvement in the screening programmes; especially the bowel screening was particularly challenging in engaging the LD patients. The report identified a number of causes of this such as inability to understand the significance of the screening, non-availability of support to complete the process, limited understanding of the carers, and inadequate training of the carers to collect the sample from incontinent patients [4,[11][12][13]]. Because of these facts, the diagnosis is difficult and delayed, leading to deaths being assessed as premature.…”