Facilitators and Barriers to Cancer Screening Participation Across Southeastic Asia: A Scoping Review

As the prevalence of cancer cases in Southeast Asia (SEA) increases, understanding facilitators and barriers to participation in and uptake of cancer screening is important. However, to date, no review has been undertaken on this topic. This review aimed to address this knowledge gap.

The search was conducted across academic databases and grey literature sources. Two reviewers independently screened the results, followed by data extraction. Social cognitive therapy was used as part of narrative synthesis of the data.

Of the 735 studies, 26 were included. Barriers and facilitators were grouped into headings of personal, environmental, societal, and behavioural domains. The commonly reported barriers to participation in cancer screening included poor knowledge, emotional factors, belief of low personal susceptibility, lack of time, misperceptions, cost, inconvenience, social influence, and lack of skills required. The facilitators were education, greater self-perceived risk, reassurance, past medical history, reduced cost and improved access to healthcare, social supports, religious beliefs, and routine health check-ups.

A multitude of barriers, and some facilitators, to participation in cancer screening were reported in the literature. This complexity highlights the importance of a multifaceted and nuanced strategy in promoting cancer screening in SEA countries.