Sheltered yet unscreened: Exploring cancer screening rates and barriers in the unhoused (homeless) population

IF 2.7 3区医学 Q1 SURGERY American journal of surgery Pub Date : 2025-10-01 Epub Date: 2025-03-04 DOI:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116289

Talal Al-Assil , Claire Kalina , Madison C. Laird , Ryan C. Olivier , Nataly Dawood , Neya Suresh Kumar , Raven Riordan , Saad Shebrain , Cheryl Dickson , Gitonga Munene

{"title":"Sheltered yet unscreened: Exploring cancer screening rates and barriers in the unhoused (homeless) population","authors":"Talal Al-Assil , Claire Kalina , Madison C. Laird , Ryan C. Olivier , Nataly Dawood , Neya Suresh Kumar , Raven Riordan , Saad Shebrain , Cheryl Dickson , Gitonga Munene","doi":"10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116289","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Cancer related mortality amongst the homeless and unhoused has been reported to be significantly higher than the housed population. This study explores cancer screening uptake and barriers in a homeless community in Michigan.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Questionnaires were administered at two homeless shelters focusing on Hepatitis C (HCV), lung, breast, colon, and cervical cancer screenings.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Amongst 143 participants, rates of screening uptake were lowest for breast cancer (44 %), followed by colorectal cancer (45 %), HCV (55 %), and cervical cancer (79 %). The three most common barriers to receiving screenings were lack of transportation (21.8 %), lack of access to or awareness of screenings (20.5 %), and low prioritization of health compared to other insecurities faced while being homeless (17.9 %).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Enhancing the unhoused/homeless community's access to cancer screenings is crucial. High willingness to undergo screenings suggests potential targeted interventions, such as providing transportation tokens and comprehensive educational resources, onsite screenings, and potentially employing social work navigators at shelters.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7771,"journal":{"name":"American journal of surgery","volume":"248 ","pages":"Article 116289"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American journal of surgery","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002961025001114","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/3/4 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SURGERY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction

Cancer related mortality amongst the homeless and unhoused has been reported to be significantly higher than the housed population. This study explores cancer screening uptake and barriers in a homeless community in Michigan.

Methods

Questionnaires were administered at two homeless shelters focusing on Hepatitis C (HCV), lung, breast, colon, and cervical cancer screenings.

Results

Amongst 143 participants, rates of screening uptake were lowest for breast cancer (44 %), followed by colorectal cancer (45 %), HCV (55 %), and cervical cancer (79 %). The three most common barriers to receiving screenings were lack of transportation (21.8 %), lack of access to or awareness of screenings (20.5 %), and low prioritization of health compared to other insecurities faced while being homeless (17.9 %).

Conclusions

Enhancing the unhoused/homeless community's access to cancer screenings is crucial. High willingness to undergo screenings suggests potential targeted interventions, such as providing transportation tokens and comprehensive educational resources, onsite screenings, and potentially employing social work navigators at shelters.

查看原文

微信好友朋友圈 QQ好友复制链接

本刊更多论文

庇护但未筛查：探索无住房（无家可归）人群的癌症筛查率和障碍

据报道，无家可归者和无家可归者与癌症相关的死亡率明显高于有住所的人群。这项研究探讨了密歇根州一个无家可归社区的癌症筛查吸收和障碍。方法在两个无家可归者收容所进行问卷调查，重点是丙型肝炎（HCV）、肺癌、乳腺癌、结肠癌和宫颈癌筛查。结果在143名参与者中，乳腺癌的筛查率最低（44%），其次是结直肠癌（45%），HCV（55%）和宫颈癌（79%）。接受筛查的三个最常见障碍是缺乏交通工具（21.8%）、缺乏获得筛查的机会或缺乏对筛查的认识（20.5%），以及与无家可归者面临的其他不安全感相比，对健康的重视程度较低（17.9%）。结论提高无家可归者/无家可归者社区获得癌症筛查的机会至关重要。接受筛查的高意愿表明可能有针对性的干预措施，例如提供交通代币和综合教育资源，现场筛查，并可能在避难所雇用社会工作导航员。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文去求助

来源期刊

American journal of surgery 医学-外科

CiteScore

5.00

自引率

6.70%

发文量

570

审稿时长

56 days

期刊介绍： The American Journal of Surgery® is a peer-reviewed journal designed for the general surgeon who performs abdominal, cancer, vascular, head and neck, breast, colorectal, and other forms of surgery. AJS is the official journal of 7 major surgical societies* and publishes their official papers as well as independently submitted clinical studies, editorials, reviews, brief reports, correspondence and book reviews.