title: Effectiveness of patient navigator interventions on uptake of colorectal cancer screening in primary care settings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer in the world and every year it is responsible for 610,000 deaths worldwide. The aim of this review was to examine the effectiveness of patient navigator interventions towards enhancing uptake of colorectal cancer screening in primary care settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic databases such as PubMed, CINHAL, Google Scholar and SCOPUS were searched to retrieve articles reporting on primary studies applying any patient navigator intervention to promote uptake of colorectal cancer screening in eligible patients. The search yielded 292 articles and 15 met the inclusion criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 15 studies were conducted in urban settings located in the USA. The findings of the review show that patient navigator interventions can increase colorectal cancer screening rates in diverse primary care settings. Patient navigator interventions were most effective in patients who belong to minority groups and enhanced uptake of colorectal cancer screening with rates ranging 11-91%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a need for further studies to examine the effectiveness of patient navigator interventions in rural populations and other countries. Such studies will help us to clearly characterize the effectiveness of patient navigator interventions.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Department of Adult Health and Critical Care, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Joshua Kanaabi
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Muliira
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Department of Adult Health and Critical Care, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
authors.forename: Melba Sheila
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: D'Souza
mesh_terms: D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D062526:Patient Navigation; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: cancer prevention; colorectal cancer; colorectal cancer screening; navigation; primary care