Cancer and mental ill-health constitute leading public health problems in Europe. More
than 84 million people in the European Union (EU) report living with an on-going mental
ill-health condition. While issues concerning mental health are of great importance, they
often overshadow physical problems that people with mental ill-health face. Such is
cancer, which is more prevalent in people with mental ill-health and is also the second
most common cause of death in this population. People with mental ill-health often have
difficulties in accessing quality cancer prevention services, but are also additionally
overlooked in research which makes them overall an underserved population. What data is
available, shows that potential reasons for these higher cancer morbidity and mortality
rates are linked to more engagement in risky health behaviour (especially higher
prevalence of smoking as well as overweight and obesity) but also experiences of
significant barriers when accessing the highly fragmented heath care systems.
Timely and evidence-based preventive strategies including optimizing health care pathways
provide a solution to the high cancer morbidity and could improve overall health outcomes
in this disadvantaged population. One such mixed-skill strategy is Patient Navigation.
Therefore, the overall goal of the CO-CAPTAIN project is to co-adapt the Patient
Navigation (PN) model focusing on primary cancer prevention and to see if this model can
prove to be beneficial in supporting individuals with mental ill-health through care
services to reduce cancer risk factors by increasing knowledge, health literacy and
empowerment. The Patient Navigation Model is an innovative, evidence-based and
patient-centred intervention, which supports patient empowerment through removal of
systemic barriers, providing social support and promoting timely access to primary
prevention services. Based on implementation science and utilizing the Consolidated
Framework for Implementation (CFIR) as well as the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption,
Implementation and Maintenance (RE-AIM) frameworks, the CO-CAPTAIN project aims to reduce
the gap in health inequalities for people with mental ill-health by reducing cancer
burden and improving overall health, which will, in turn, reduce associated costs across
health and social care systems in Europe. Moreover, the CO-CAPTAIN project aims to
harness the transformative potential of the integrated care pathways in cancer as well as
provide health and social care policy recommendations for the adoption and implementation
of the Patient Navigation Model across Europe.
The adapted Patient Navigation Model will be implemented in four European countries
(Austria, Greece, Poland, Spain) and its potential to enable and improve access and
utilization of primary cancer prevention measures for people with mental ill-health will
be evaluated. The study will employ a mixed-methods design allowing for both exploratory
and confirmatory research.
The project has been funded by the HORIZON EUROPE Framework Program (Call: Research and
Innovation actions supporting the implementation of the Mission on Cancer
(HORIZON-MISS-2022-CANCER-01-01) - Improving and upscaling primary prevention of cancer
through implementation research) and is coordinated by the Medical University of Vienna.