Barriers and Facilitators to Breast Cancer Screening for Women with Intellectual Disabilites: The Perspective of Facility Heads and Caregivers

People with intellectual disabilities (ID) experience major health inequalities and face multiple barriers and obstacles regarding their health and health care. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, and the cancer with the highest mortality rate in women. National early breast cancer screening programmes are in place in many countries, including Austria, to increase early diagnosis and lower mortality rates. Such screening programmes have been proven to be very effective. However, international data suggest, that women with ID are less likely to use early screening services. They often present with advanced breast cancer at diagnosis and a concurrently poor prognosis. In Austria, there are neither data on the participation rate of women with ID in the national breast cancer screening program, nor on facilitating factors or barriers to participation. This hinders the delivery of targeted prevention and intervention strategies and contributes heavily to the inequalities regarding health care for people with ID, which is in direct conflict with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the United Nations (UN-CRPD). The aim of this study is to collect data on participation in breast cancer screening in Austria, as well as barriers and facilitators from the perspective of caregivers and facility heads. Respondents will be recruited through two online surveys across Austria. The perspective of people with ID on this topic will be addressed in a separate study.