Abstract
Purpose
Few efforts have been made to inform intervention design for increasing the uptake of cancer screening in individuals living with serious mental illness (ILSMI), who have lower cancer screening rates than the general population. This qualitative study explored ILSMI’s and their care team member’s (CTM) recommendations on the design of a breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screening intervention for ILSMI.
Methods
Twenty-five ILSMI (mean age: 71.4 years; 60% female) and 15 CTM (mean age: 45.3 years; 80% female) were recruited through purposive sampling. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to collect participants’ intervention suggestions. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and imported into NVivo. Content analysis and the constant comparison method were used to analyze interview data.
Results
ILSMI and CTMs provided several salient recommendations. ILSMI should receive disease-specific, logistical, and screening education, and primary care staff should receive education on psychopathology. Mental health providers and patient navigators should be considered as the primary interventionist. The intervention should be delivered where ILSMI receive medical or mental health services, receive community and government services, and/or via various digital media. The intervention should improve the collaboration, communication, and coordination between primary and mental health care. Findings also pointed to the implementation of trauma-informed cancer care and integrated care models comprising mental health care and primary cancer care.
Conclusion
These findings bring the skills, knowledge, and expertise of ILSM and their care team to intervention design for increasing colorectal, breast, and cervical cancer screening in ILSMI attending an intensive outpatient program.
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Data availability
The dataset analyzed during the current study are not publicly available because a) the Institutional Review Board was not informed that the data would be shared, b) participants were not informed that their data would be shared, and c) the research team is actively working on additional manuscripts from these data. The corresponding author can answer further questions about data availability.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the patients and their care team who took the time to speak with us.
Funding
Mr. Cristian Garcia-Alcaraz’s and Ms. Rosa A. Cobian Aguilar’s efforts were supported by the UC San Diego Strategic Enhancement of Excellence through Diversity (SEED) Fellowship and the San Diego State University (SDSU) University Graduate Fellowship. Ms. Aleigha Binda’s efforts were supported by the National Cancer Institute’s Multidisciplinary Educational Approach to Reducing Cancer Disparities Program (YES) Grant R25CA2217779 and National Cancer Institute Creating Scientists Program (CSP) Grant R25CA132699. Mr. Nicholas C. Lucido’s efforts were supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers U54CA12384 and U54CA132379. Dr. Kristen Wells’ efforts were supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under award number U54MD012397. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of any funding organization.
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CGA: Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing––Original Draft, Writing––Review & Editing, Visualization; AB: Formal analysis, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing––Original Draft, Writing––Review & Editing, Visualization; JRG: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Writing––Review & Editing; ENA: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing––Review & Editing; KLG: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing––Review & Editing, Project administration; RACA: Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing––Review & Editing; NCL: Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing––Review & Editing; DK: Formal analysis, Writing––Review & Editing; CA: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing––Review & Editing; MGP: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Project administration, Writing––Review & Editing; KJW: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing––Original Draft, Writing––Review & Editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.
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Garcia-Alcaraz, C., Binda, A., Gordon, J.R. et al. Intervention recommendations to improve uptake of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening among individuals living with serious mental illness. Cancer Causes Control 35, 451–463 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-023-01791-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-023-01791-y