500-word thesis Revealing the attitudes and opinions of women with a learning disability and their carers towards cervical and breast cancer screening

WITHIN THE United Kingdom, three cancer-screening programmes aim to identify and diagnose cancer at an early stage, which can improve survival and reduce mortality (Foot & Harrison, 2011) of cancer in the cervix, breasts, and colon. Statistics published by NHS Digital (2020) highlight that people with a learning disability are less likely to attend cancer screening, compared to the general population, with a greater difference being seen for cervical and breast cancer screening. The uptake of women with a learning disability (WwLD) attending cervical cancer screening is as low as 27.7 per cent for those aged 55 to 64, compared to 71.9 per cent of those without a learning disability (NHS Digital, 2020), and 42.9 per cent of WwLD attending breast screening, compared to 55.1 per cent, of those aged between 50 to 54 (NHS Digital, 2020). As a resultof the uptake statistics, this PhD programme aims to reveal the attitudes, opinions and knowledge of women with a learning disability, family carers and paid care workers toward cervical and breast cancer screening in England.