Psychological Considerations When Attending for Mammography Screening

Pearson, Anne; Weinberg, Ashley

Abstract

The pandemic led to a pause in routine breast screening in the UK, with up to one million not being offered appointments (Breast Cancer Now, Almost one million women in UK miss vital breast screening due to COVID-19, 2022). However, according to a Nuffield report, even before this, breast cancer screening in the UK had yet to reach its ‘optimal performance standard of 80%’ (Nuffield, Cancer screening—quality watch, 2022). In usual times, this has meant that with screening rates in excess of 70%, over two million women have been screened annually in the UK. However, breast cancer is also the most common cancer in women in the UK (Office for National Statistics, Cancer registration statistics, 2017), with 85% survival 5 years after diagnosis (Office for National Statistics, Cancer survival in England - adults diagnosed 2019) and it remains clear that screening can help reduce breast cancer mortality (Office for National Statistics, Cancer registration statistics, 2017). So why would 25% or more fail to accept an invitation for a routine mammogram which may ultimately help save their lives? This chapter considers a range of psychological factors relevant to understanding this phenomenon and hopefully bring about a positive change.

Citation

Pearson, A., & Weinberg, A. (2022). Psychological Considerations When Attending for Mammography Screening. In Digital Mammography. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10898-3_12

• Publication Date: Nov 2, 2022
• Deposit Date: Sep 26, 2023
• Publisher: Springer
• Book Title: Digital Mammography
• ISBN: 9783031108983
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10898-3_12