Co-Designing Culturally Tailored Bowel, Cervical and Breast Cancer Screening Interventions With Migrant Communities: Towards Closing the Migration-Related Cancer-Equity Gap in New South Wales, Australia.

Authors

Andre M N Renzaho, Sheetal Challam, Nina Hartcher, Mitchell Smith, Sandra Elhelw, Amanda Jayakody, Sarah McGill, Tracey A O'Brien

Published in

Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy. Volume 29. Issue 4. Pages e70805.

Abstract

Migrants in Australia experience persistent cancer-equity gaps, with later-stage diagnoses linked to low screening participation. This study aimed to co-design cancer screening interventions with migrant and refugee communities to promote equitable participation and reduce disparities in bowel, cervical and breast cancer screening in New South Wales, Australia.
Using stratified convenience sampling, 90 first-generation Middle Eastern and Sub-Saharan African migrants across five NSW regions participated in 10 face-to-face nominal group technique sessions to elicit and rank intervention priorities.
Participants identified 24 priority actions for bowel cancer screening, 11 for breast, and eight for cervical cancer, grouped into intervention domains. Bowel cancer drew the broadest response, spanning cancer literacy, policy reform, community action, and monitoring and evaluation. Breast cancer priorities centred on literacy and policy, while cervical cancer input focused on literacy and behavioural confidence. Increasing cancer literacy, shifting behaviours and enacting supportive policy reform emerged as consistent priorities across all three cancers.
Improving migrant and refugee participation across all three screening programs requires culturally grounded interventions that build cancer literacy and leverage trusted networks including peers, community champions and frontline health workers. Settlement programs, community organisations and schools provide critical infrastructure for sustained screening education, while policy reforms including age threshold reductions, incentive mechanisms and improved access support are essential to achieving equitable outcomes.
Migrants with lived experience, cancer caregivers and community champions played a central role in setting priorities and co-designing intervention options.

PMID:
42555149
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Aug 2026.

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