Purpose and aims

Co-designing interventions with consumers and relevant public health stakeholders is critical to developing strategies that are both effective and implementable. Engaging end-users ensures that interventions are acceptable, relevant, and responsive to the real-world barriers and motivators that influence screening behaviour. Integrating behaviour change theory and health psychology principles further strengthens intervention design by targeting key screening determinants such as perceived risk, self-efficacy, practical barriers, and emotional responses.

What was researched and how

Collaboration with public health professionals and stakeholders is equally important for assessing the feasibility of interventions, including the practicality of delivery methods and implementation within existing systems. Led by Associate Professor Belinda Goodwin, our behaviour change experts have worked with consumers and stakeholders to co-design a variety of strategies to increase participation in the NBCSP focusing on three main delivery methods including invitation materials, promotional videos, and SMS prompts.

This work drew on a range of complementary methods, including systematic reviews and meta-analyses to identify key barriers and effective intervention components, alongside the development and validation of measures assessing core barriers and enablers. Large-scale quantitative consumer surveys were used to examine the prevalence of these factors and how they vary across population groups.

Consultations with NBCSP recipients, experts, and consultations with program stakeholders were undertaken to ensure relevance and feasibility. In addition, a series of online experiments were conducted to test specific behavioural mechanisms and message framing, allowing identification of the most effective “active ingredients” for increasing screening participation. Through this work, we sought input from over 7500 NBCSP recipients via interviews and representative surveys providing robust and well-rounded insight in screening behaviour and how we might improve it.

Key findings

Interventions

Publications

Find publications related to this research here 

Investigators

Investigators on this research include:

Belinda Goodwin ^(2,4,5,7)
Mark Jenkins ^(1,3)
Jennifer McIntosh ^(1,2,3)
Carlene Wilson ⁽³⁾
Laura Anderson ^(4,6)
Sabine Fletcher ⁽⁴⁾
Katelyn Collins ^(2,5,7)
Nicole Perry ⁽⁴⁾

Affiliated organisations

1. Centre for Cancer Research, University of Melbourne, Melbourne
2. Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne
3. Cancer Council Queensland, Fortitude Valley, Queensland
4. Centre for Health Research, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield, Queensland
5. Viertel Cancer Research Centre, Cancer Council Queensland, Fortitude Valley, Queensland
6. University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland
7. Faculty of Health, Medical, and Psychological Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield, Queensland