The communication of benign biopsy results in NHS Breast Screening V.1

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  The communication of benign biopsy results in the NHS Breast Screening Programme

• IRAS ID

  212999

• Contact name

  Sian Williamson

• Contact email

  s.williamson@warwick.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Warwick

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 2 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  The National Health Service Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP) invites women between the ages of 47-73 to be screened for early signs of breast cancer. How women receive their screening results varies across the UK. When a result is benign (not cancer), some centres deliver results by telephone. The NHSBSP are unsure if communicating results in this way is best practice. This is because communicating by telephone may be less understandable. Having a lower understanding of a screening result may lead to women feeling more anxious about their outcome. However, communicating by telephone may be quicker, minimizing the amount of time women spend anxiously waiting for results to be delivered.

  The main aim of this project is to measure anxiety to see if there are any differences between women who receive their benign results via telephone or in-person. The project will also measure how well women understand their result when told via telephone or in-person. This project will also explore what method of communication women themselves prefer and why. This research was identified as a priority by the NHSBSP, who have part-funded this PhD.

  The sample will be women attending routine breast screening who receive a benign result. The women will be recruited from 2-3 English Breast Screening Centres. Women will complete four surveys at four key points during screening:

  1) When they attend for follow-up tests
  2) When they receive their result
  3) Three months after receiving their result
  4) Six months after receiving their result

  Some women will be asked to be involved in a further interview. These semi-structured telephone interviews will explore how women would prefer to receive their results and why.

  Results from this research will be used to inform communication policy guidelines for the NHSBSP.

• REC name

  West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  17/WM/0313

• Date of REC Opinion

  16 Oct 2017

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion