Dwhy preventive examinations are still being shunned
Although screening tests can save lives, there are still too many of us who opt out of them. According to data presented in the post-conference report of the Polish Senate 'Health First', the percentage of participants in preventive programmes in Poland is dramatically low - in some age groups it does not even exceed 20%. What discourages patients? On the one hand - lack of knowledge about the available programmes and their importance. On the other - emotions: fear of diagnosis, shame, lack of trust in the doctor, unpleasant memories of previous visits. For many, an examination, even a simple and painless one, is associated with the fear: "what if they find something?".
Added to this are practical factors: queues, problems with registration, inconvenient location. However, in many cases it is not the system but beliefs that keep patients at home. There is still a myth in Poland that 'it is better not to know', 'I don't have symptoms, so I don't have a problem', 'tests are for sick people'. These attitudes stem from a lack of health education, but also from the inappropriate language used for years to talk about prevention often too medical, too threatening, too cold.
Humanising prevention - when it's not just the outcome that counts, but also the approach
A patient who comes for a preventive examination is not just a 'potential case to rule out disease'. He is a person with a history, emotions, questions, sometimes with traumas and fears. Humanisation in prevention is about not judging, shaming or rushing him - but listening, reassuring and treating him as a partner.
As the results of the research cited in the UKW monograph on health promotion show, trust in medical staff and a sense of respect play a key role in the decision to participate in research. If a patient feels treated like a number in a queue, not only the motivation but also the willingness to return disappears.
Even a routine conversation before a colonoscopy can be an opportunity to build a relationship based on empathy. The right approach such as a calm tone, understandable language, ensuring intimacy - make the patient leave the surgery feeling that it was worth coming. And perhaps - that it is worth coming back.
The message matters
The way we talk about screening can determine whether a patient feels motivated... or discouraged. Too often, health communication is based on scaring people about the disease, emphasising the risks and using medical jargon that sounds foreign and daunting to many people. Meanwhile, according to the analyses in the "Health First" report - much more effective are messages that are based on positive emotions: care for oneself, loved ones, the desire to live a healthy life.
Equally important is who is speaking and in what context. Social campaigns involving well-known and well-liked people, education delivered by local opinion leaders or dialogue with a GP can be far more powerful than an anonymous poster in a GP surgery. People don't need another billboard slogan. They need a conversation, understanding and answers to their concerns.
Prevention on a human basis
Sometimes it is not fear, but the very organisation of the system that discourages prevention. It is difficult to have the will to take care of one's health when one has to wait for months for an examination and when telephone registration resembles a fight for survival. The humanisation of screening also means changes at the organisational level: simplified procedures, availability of appointments, possibility to register online and, above all: polite, trained staff.
Place is no less important. Mobile examination points, prevention in workplaces, schools and shopping centres are all making the "hard-to-reach examination" part of everyday life. Such activities not only increase the detection of diseases at an early stage, but also familiarise the topic of health in the public space. They show that taking care of oneself is not an obligation, but something natural. And that it really can be done without fear.