title: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials examining the effectiveness of breast and cervical cancer screening interventions for ethnic minority women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effect that breast and/or cervical cancer screening programmes for ethnic minority women have on their knowledge of and beliefs about breast or cervical cancer and screening, and on their screening intentions and uptake rates. Recommendations are also made for the format and content of such programmes, based on existing evidence.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive literature search was carried out both manually and by means of five electronic databases. The findings are summarised and synthesised in narrative fashion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ten RCTs included here were conducted among ethnic minority women in the United States or Canada, where breast or cervical cancer screening programmes have led to improvements in screening intentions, knowledge of cervical cancer and pap test uptake. The Breast Cancer Screening Belief Scale and self-reporting were the methods commonly used to measure outcomes. The shared characteristics of both countries' programmes were that they were theory- and language-based, the instruction took place in a community setting, the materials were culturally relevant, the content highlighted key messages about breast or cervical cancer and screening measures, and there were multiple intervention strategies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Breast or cervical cancer screening programmes in Western countries have demonstrated improvements in knowledge of the disease, screening intentions and pap test uptake, although evidence on the effectiveness of the interventions has been limited. The common characteristics of programmes are identified, but a comprehensive model is still needed to link these characteristics with other factors and mediators influencing outcomes.
authors.affiliation: The Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: dorothycns@cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Dorothy N S
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: The Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Winnie K W
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: So
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D002170:Canada; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control
keywords: Breast cancer; Cervical cancer; Ethnic group; Intervention; Review; Screening