Breaking the bias – involving communities in cervical screening research
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘breaking the bias’ and one of our ARC Research Fellows has been doing that through her research, by making sure the voices of marginalised communities are represented in research
Dr Angela Wearn is an ARC NENC Research Fellow at Newcastle University, with expertise in public involvement and community engagement. She works alongside researchers, members of the public and health professionals and says, ‘two days are rarely the same’.
Angela’s doctoral research was focussed on cancer screening to improve outcomes for women in disadvantaged communities in Newcastle upon Tyne. Her approach saw her breaking away from the standard university research environment and embedding herself in the communities most at need.
We spoke to Angela to find out more.
What ARC projects do you currently work on?
I’m working across a number of research projects related to health inequalities, prevention and public involvement in research, with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
Tell us more about the work you did on cancer screening and the approach you took.
My PhD research focused on understanding socioeconomic inequality in routine cervical screening. There’s already lots of evidence to suggest that those living in areas of high deprivation are least likely to attend, but the reasons for this aren’t well understood. It’s also unclear how best to reduce these inequalities in uptake.
To address this, I embedded myself within the community, attending community events, meeting with groups in more familiar environments and gaining an understanding of some of the barriers facing these individuals. I wanted to make sure that the perspectives included were from a culturally diverse group of women, and highlight experiences and views that were really reflective of the community.
Doing this highlighted some important findings that spanned different cultural backgrounds, which showed that fear and embarrassment weren’t always the main factors in not attending screening appointments. Social support, having lots of different competing demands and priorities and women’s past experiences of healthcare were very influential… these things, in turn, seemed to influence and exacerbate how women thought and felt about screening participation.
What were the biggest challenges of trying new approaches, building relationships and getting out of the university environment?
I think the biggest thing that I learned was to have the confidence to push back on traditional research approaches, if you know as a researcher that they’re not inclusive enough.
As part of her doctorate, Angela created a toolbox of intervention strategies and provided a range of recommendations to support the uptake of cervical screening in the areas of high deprivation, including approaches to increasing service accessibility (for example offering flexible options for attendance) and more community-based and peer-delivered information and support.
Equity, diversity and inclusion can be practiced in many ways and Angela’s work is a fantastic example of how to embed more inclusive approaches in research.