Using the theoretical domains framework to improve access to cervical screening for women with intellectual disabilities

Regular attendance for screening can prevent most cervical cancers, but women with learning disabilities are potentially at greater risk of developing and dying from cervical cancer because current screening processes and practices create inequitable barriers, restricting their access to screening. In response, an objective of Public Health England’s 2018 ‘Screening Inequalities Strategy’ was to reduce inequalities through ‘evidence-based contributions’ to policy and best practice (Public Health England, 2018b). Health psychologists could contribute to this objective by facilitating collaborative work with cervical screening practitioners using the Theoretical Domains Framework. This enables health psychology evidence and theory, combined with the perceptions and experiences of screening practitioners, to identify relevant barriers and enablers to access, and this information can inform interventions and policy changes to make cervical screening programmes more open and effective for women with learning disabilities.

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