Test of an intervention to improve knowledge of women with intellectual disabilities about cervical and breast cancer screening.
Lecture-only classes give tiny knowledge gains; add hands-on practice to make cancer education stick.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers tested an 8-week class called Women Be Healthy 2.
The class teaches women with intellectual disabilities about breast and cervical cancer tests.
Sixty-four women were split into two groups: class now or wait-list later.
Teachers used slides, role-play, and simple handouts.
Each lesson lasted one hour.
What they found
The women who took the class scored a little higher on a 25-question quiz.
Most single questions still showed no gain, so learning was spotty.
The gain was big enough to be real, but too small to count on in clinic.
How this fits with other research
Howlin et al. (2006) ran a similar group class for depression in adults with ID and saw strong, lasting gains.
Same format, same people, yet de Kuijper et al. (2014) got only weak results.
The difference: P taught coping skills with lots of rehearsal and homework; G used one-shot lectures.
Strydom et al. (2020) also found almost no real-world benefit after staff got extra training for adults with ID.
Both RCTs show that classroom lessons, without practice in real settings, rarely change behavior.
Why it matters
If you teach health topics to clients with ID, add role-play, in-vivo trips, and repeated practice.
Lectures alone give a small bump on tests but will not help a client schedule or sit through a mammogram.
Use the curriculum as a skeleton, then build in community walks, mock appointments, and caregiver coaching.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: There is a critical need for evidence-based health education interventions for women with intellectual disabilities (IDs) to promote receipt of preventive health screenings. Previous research has established Women Be Healthy, an 8-week classroom-style intervention designed to teach women with IDs about breast and cervical cancer screenings, as a promising practice. However, additional research is needed to determine how to further improve screening-related knowledge gains. This study aimed to test a modified version of Women Be Healthy, Women Be Healthy 2, and compare its effectiveness in increasing knowledge gains to the original intervention. METHOD: Women living in the community across one state in the United States were randomly assigned to a treatment (n = 98), delayed treatment, (n = 35), or no intervention group (n = 65). Women in the treatment group received Women Be Healthy, and women in the delayed treatment group received the modified Women Be Healthy 2. Baseline and post-intervention interviews were conducted to measure knowledge of cervical and breast cancer screening. Knowledge scores were compared across groups. RESULTS: Among the nine knowledge items measured, one breast knowledge measure and one cervical knowledge measure showed statistically significant group differences; marginally significant differences were observed for two other knowledge measures. After adjusting for covariates, women who received Women Be Healthy 2 had increased knowledge overall compared with the women receiving no intervention. CONCLUSION: Women Be Healthy 2 is promising, but additional efforts appear necessary to increase the knowledge women with IDs have about cervical and breast cancer screening.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2014 · doi:10.1111/jir.12062