Open AccessAssessing the Implementation of Interventions Addressing Socioeconomic Inequalities in Cancer Screening in High-Income Countries
Author(s) -
Annie Bygrave,
Kate Whittaker,
Sanchia Aranda
Publication year - 2020
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.579
H-Index - 13
ISSN - 2279-9028
DOI - 10.4081/jphr.2020.1713
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , socioeconomic status , medicine , context (archaeology) , intervention (counseling) , population , cancer screening , environmental health , inequality , gerontology , family medicine , cancer , nursing , paleontology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , biology
Background The context of an intervention may influence its effectiveness and success in meeting the needs of the targeted population. Implementation science frameworks have been developed, but previous literature in this field has been mixed. This paper aimed to assess the implementation success of interventions, identified from a systematic review, that reduced inequalities in cancer screening between people in low and high socioeconomic groups.Design and methods The implementation framework by Proctor et al. was utilised to assess the potential success of 6 studies reporting on 7 interventions in the “real-world” environment. A standardised rating system to identify the overall implementation success of each intervention was established.Results Four interventions (57%) demonstrated high potential to be implemented successfully. Interventions included enhanced reminder letters and GP-endorsed screening invitations, containing evidence on the acceptability, from participants and stakeholders, appropriateness and direct cost of the intervention.Conclusion While some interventions reduced socioeconomic inequalities in cancer screening participation, there have been missed opportunities to integrate the experiences of the targeted population into design and evaluation components. This has limited the potential for transferability of outcomes to other settings.