Promoting early breast cancer presentation in women after their final routine breast screening mammogram

The London Psychosocial Group has been funded by Cancer Research UK to develop, implement and evaluate an intervention to encourage early help seeking among older women with breast symptoms. It will be delivered at the point when the women leave the routine protection afforded by the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme. It is in line with government-recommended practice and is complementary to the breast screening programme. The intervention is designed to increase women's knowledge about breast symptoms and risk, to promote disclosure of symptoms to someone, to reduce perceptions of barriers and to increase intentions to seek help. The rationale and evidence base for the intervention will be presented. We have shown that delayed presentation of breast cancer (≥ 3 months) is associated with poorer survival at all ages [1]. The intervention builds on evidence about risk factors for delayed presentation of breast cancer [2–6] and is informed by a theoretical framework about help-seeking for breast symptoms [7].

The ultimate aim of the intervention is to reduce the proportion of older women with breast cancer who delay their presentation, and thereby save lives.