Testing interventions to increase participation in the Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program among...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Public Health
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Faecal immunochemical tests (FIT) are crucial for early bowel cancer detection, reducing morbidity and mortality.
• Australia's National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) offers free FIT kits but faces low participation rates (42% return).
• Persistent never-screeners, defined as individuals not returning at least three NBCSP kits, represent a hard-to-reach subgroup.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of modified invitation and pre-invitation materials in increasing screening participation among persistent never-screeners.
• To address barriers faced by individuals who have not previously participated in bowel cancer screening.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving persistent never-screeners due for pre-invitation letters.
• Participants were assigned to receive either standard NBCSP materials (control) or modified invitation materials (intervention).
• Intervention materials included revised pre-invitation letters and kit packages with QR codes, web links, and multilingual messaging addressing screening barriers.

Main Results:

• The trial compared kit return rates between the intervention and control arms over a 6-month follow-up period.
• Effectiveness was determined by analyzing the difference in screening participation between the groups.

Conclusions:

• This trial will provide evidence on the impact of tailored communication strategies on screening uptake.
• Findings aim to inform improvements for engaging hard-to-reach populations in cancer screening programs globally.