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Educational pamphlets for improving uptake of cancer screening: a systematic review

Teo BS et al (2019)

Health Evidence - 10.1071/HC18093

Evidence Categories

  • Care setting: Secondary Care
  • Care setting: Primary care
  • Population group: Adults
  • Population group: Men
  • Population group: Women
  • Population group: Older adults
  • Intervention: Printed materials
  • Outcome: Screening: Uptake of colorectal cancer screening
  • Outcome: Screening: Uptake of lung cancer screening

Type of Evidence

Systematic Review

Aims

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of cancer screening pamphlets as a standalone intervention. The outcome of interest was uptake of cancer screening tests.

Findings

A total of nine trials involving 4912 participants met our inclusion criteria, of which five were about colorectal cancer screening, three were about prostate cancer screening and one was about lung cancer screening. Five of the nine trials showed that pamphlets alone increased uptake significantly, while the remaining four trials did not show significant effects.

Conclusions

There is some evidence that pamphlets increase uptake for cancer screenings, especially for colorectal cancer. Due to the small number of studies in this area, generalisability could be limited.