Cancer Risk Factors and Access to Cancer Prevention Services for People Experiencing Homelessness: A Scoping Review

Objective: To map the existing research evidence on cancer risk factors and access to cancer prevention services among people experiencing homelessness (PEH). Introduction: While homelessness depicts a complex social issue, PEH experience a high prevalence of different medical conditions and premature mortality compared to the general population, with cancer being the second most common cause of death. At the same time, PEH do not have access or face significant barriers to primary and secondary cancer prevention programs. Inclusion criteria: In our systematic scoping review, we will include PEH according to the European typology of homelessness and housing exclusion who do not have a cancer diagnosis and are 18 years or over. Cancer survivors will be excluded. We will include literature on cancer risk factors and access to primary and secondary cancer prevention services among PEH. While only original research and reviews will be included, there will be no limitations regarding country, healthcare system, sex and gender, or study design. Methods: A literature search in the databases CINAHL, Embase, Global Index Medicus, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science will be conducted. After removing duplicates, two independent reviewers will screen titles and abstracts for eligibility. Full texts of potentially relevant records will be retrieved and assessed according to our preset eligibility criteria. Two independent reviewers will extract data using a self-developed data extraction tool that will be adapted as necessary during the process. The final reporting of our results will be in the form of a narrative synthesis.