Cervical and breast cancer screening health promotion intervention for women with intellectual disabilities

There is a critical need for evidence-based health promotion interventions for women with intellectual disabilities to promote receipt of preventive health screenings including screenings for cervical and breast cancer. One intervention, Women Be Healthy, provides developmentally appropriate, hands-on, multi-modal learning specifically designed to inform women with intellectual disabilities about such screenings. Previous research has shown the intervention to be a promising practice. This study collected data on the knowledge of women with intellectual disabilities living in the community about cervical and breast cancer screening. Data were collected pre and post-intervention with a sample of 198 women across one state in the United States. Women were randomly assigned to either a treatment or delayed treatment group and received Women Be Healthy (n=98), a revised version of the intervention, Women Be Healthy 2 (n=35), or no intervention (n=65). After comparing knowledge scores across the three groups we found that 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 to the women receiving no intervention indicating that Women Be Healthy 2 is a promising intervention, but additional efforts are needed to show increased knowledge gains.