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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.

Contact Information:

Dr Fiona Graham
+44 7511046947
fiona.graham@newcastle.ac.uk


Miss Beth Nichol
+44 191 208 3031
Beth.Nichol@newcastle.ac.uk


More information about this study, what is involved and how to take part can be found on the study website.

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Be Part of Research - Trial Details - Improving uptake of cervical screening in people with severe mental illness using tailored text message reminders
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Improving uptake of cervical screening in people with severe mental illness using tailored text message reminders

Recruiting

Open to: Female

Age: Adult

London

Medical Conditions

Prevention of cervical cancer in patients with severe mental illness

This information is provided directly by researchers, and we recognise that it isn't always easy to understand. We are working with researchers to improve the accessibility of this information. In some summaries, you may come across links to external websites. These websites will have more information to help you better understand the study.


In the United Kingdom, there's a program called the Cervical Screening program that offers cervical screening to women and individuals with cervixes aged 25 to 65. They get invited for this screening every three years if they're between 25 and 49 years old, or every five years if they're between 50 and 64 years old. These invitations usually come in the form of a letter and, in most cases, a text message reminder.

However, a study from 2018 discovered that people with severe mental illness (SMI), especially those aged 45 to 64, were 20% more likely to miss their cervical screening within the recommended timeframe compared to those without SMI.

To help boost the participation of individuals with anxiety about attending cervical screening, mental health service users and healthcare professionals have created an informative tool, like a pamphlet. You can find it on the government's official website (gov.uk), as a downloadable pamphlet on the Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust website, and as an animation on YouTube. The current invitation letter or text message reminders don't include links to these helpful resources.

The study aims to test if it is possible to run a trial where people receive either an enhanced text message reminder with a link to the tool or the standard text message that they usually get, and see if this increases the number of people who read the information and attend screening.

Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.  

The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:

25 Nov 2024 28 Feb 2025

Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either an enhanced text message reminder with a link to the tool (that's the intervention), or the standard text message that they usually get (that's the control). This pilot trial will be overseen by a company called iPLATO, which the NHS has hired to do research and send out text messages.

Local doctor's offices will identify people who are eligible for this trial and give the names to iPLATO. Then, iPLATO will randomly assign these participants to either the intervention or control group and send the appropriate text message accordingly. Within these text messages, participants will have the option to opt out of the study. Additionally, participating local doctor's offices and local charities will alert patients to the study so that they can opt out if they wish. After the study is done, local doctor's offices will add extra data about participants (e.g. age and ethnicity) to the data and send it to the research team.

If participants in the intervention group go for screening, they'll be asked if they used the information and what they thought of it. For the control group, since the information is already publicly available on the NHS screening website and provided on the invitation letters sent to patients who are due their cervical screening, they'll be asked if they looked it up before attending screening.

This pilot trial will last for 9 months and is being funded by the National Institute of Health and Social Care Research Policy Research Unit in Behavioral and Social Sciences. Its purpose is to help decide whether this improved cervical screening reminder can increase participation among people with SMI.


People with SMI who are overdue for cervical screening aged 24 - 64 years

You can take part if:



You may not be able to take part if:


1. People who are exempt from cervical screening and have declined to receive the usual SMS text message reminders will be excluded2. Those the general practitioner considers it inappropriate to approach3. Patients inappropriate to approach (patients who are receiving palliative care, have declined screening when offered by their GP in the last 12 months, and have submitted a cervical screening opt-out form)


Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.

  • NHS South East London Integrated Care Board
    Southwark Council 160 Tooley Street
    London
    SE1 2QH

Possible benefits are that this text message reminder may help people with SMI to attend for cervical screening reducing their risk of cervical cancer. This is a very low risk intervention. The information leaflet is already available in the public domain and text messages reminders are widely used by GP practices for cervical screening.

Miss Beth Nichol
+44 191 208 3031
Beth.Nichol@newcastle.ac.uk


Dr Fiona Graham
+44 7511046947
fiona.graham@newcastle.ac.uk



More information about this study, what is involved and how to take part can be found on the study website.


The study is sponsored by Newcastle University and funded by National Institute for Health and Care Research.



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Read full details for Trial ID: ISRCTN12558681
Last updated 24 January 2025

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