Care in the Community: Opportunities to improve cancer screening uptake for people living with low income

Abstract

Despite organized provincial cancer screening programs, people living with low income consistently have lower rates of screening in Ontario, Canada than their more socioeconomically advantaged peers. We previously published results of a two-phase, exploratory qualitative study involving both interviews and focus groups whose objective was to integrate knowledge of people living with low income on how to improve primary care strategies aimed at increasing cancer screening uptake. In the current paper, we report previously unpublished findings from that study that identify how taking a community outreach approach in primary care may lead to increased cancer screening uptake among people living with low income. Participants told us that they saw value in a community outreach approach to cancer screening. They recommended specific actionable approaches, in particular, mobile community-based screening and community information sessions, and recommended taking an ethno-specific lens depending on the communities being targeted. Participants expressed a desire for primary care providers to go out into the community to learn more about the whole patient, such as could be achieved with home visits, but they simultaneously believed that this may be challenging in urban settings and in the context of perceived physician shortages. Models of primary care that provide support to an entire local community and provide some of their services directly in that community may have a meaningful impact on cancer screening for socially marginalized groups.