
“Deborah agreed to take part in a trial as she was keen to help other cancer patients in the future. "If taking part in a trial means others might be helped then I’m very happy with that."
This study looked at why some women don’t take up the invitation to attend breast screening in Scotland.
Breast cancer screening can help find early signs of breast cancer. But not all women who are invited to breast cancer screening attend their appointment.
We know that women from poorer areas are less likely to attend screening. The researchers wanted to find out why some of these women do not to take up the invitation to have breast screening.
The aims of this pilot study were to find out:
The study team found that a brief telephone reminder doubled attendance at breast screening in this group of women compared with a letter reminder.
856 women took part in the study. They were put into 1 of 4 groups.
The study team looked at the number of women who made a screening appointment after they were contacted. This was:
Women in the 2nd and 3rd telephone reminder groups were told that the study team were trying to understand why some women do not take up their invitation to attend for breast screening when invited, and asked whether they would be prepared to answer some questions.
247 agreed to answer the researchers’ questions. The researchers asked the women:
The main findings of the study were that:
The study team concluded that a brief telephone call, whether or not it included talking about attendance or possible regret was useful. But contacting the women was sometimes tricky as people did not always answer their phones or numbers were wrong. Women who said they would have regrets if they didn’t attend were more likely to make and attend an appointment.
The study team recommend that the breast screening service introduce telephone reminders to improve the numbers of women attending breast screening.
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Professor Ronan O’Carroll
NHS Tayside
University of Stirling
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040
“Deborah agreed to take part in a trial as she was keen to help other cancer patients in the future. "If taking part in a trial means others might be helped then I’m very happy with that."