The role of knowledge, primary care and community engagement to improve breast-screening access for Pakistani women in the United Kingdom: A secondary analysis of a qualitative study

Khattak, Hooran M; Woof, Victoria G; French, David P; Donnelly, Louise S; Ruane, Helen; Ulph, Fiona; Qureshi, Nadeem; Khan, Nasaim; Gareth Evans, D; Robb, Kathryn A

Abstract

Objective
Breast cancer incidence is rising among Pakistani women in the United Kingdom. However, uptake of breast screening remains low. This study aimed to improve access to breast screening for British-Pakistani women by exploring their knowledge of breast cancer and the role of primary care and community networks to support screening access amongst British-Pakistani women.
Methods
We undertook a secondary qualitative analysis of 18 semi-structured interviews with British-Pakistani women from East Lancashire in the United Kingdom. Anonymized transcripts of the interviews were used for a thematic analysis.
Results
Three themes were identified in the interviewees’ responses: (i) ‘Women’s knowledge of breasts and breast cancer’, which described how a cultural taboo exists around Pakistani women’s bodies and around breast cancer; (ii) ‘Role of primary care’, which detailed how General Practitioners can support informed decisions and offer a trusted and valued information source; (iii) ‘Community engagement’, which described the potential to disseminate breast-screening information through the whole community, including primary care providers, all family members and mosques.
Conclusions
Our analysis suggested three main targets for future interventions to improve access to breast screening for British-Pakistani women: (i) co-produced strategies to increase knowledge of breasts and breast screening; (ii) greater collaboration with local General Practitioners to support women to make informed choices about screening; and (iii) community engagement involving General Practitioners and community leaders, to inform everyone – not just screening-age women – about breast cancer and screening.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 24, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Apr 11, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-07
• Deposit Date: Nov 16, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 16, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Health Services Research and Policy
• Print ISSN: 1355-8196
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 149-156
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13558196231155824
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/23554867
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13558196231155824