The Greek pilot of CO-CAPTAIN, coordinated by the University Mental Health Research Institute (UMHRI), continues to make progress in testing and adapting a person-centred Patient Navigation model to support people experiencing mental ill-health in accessing primary cancer prevention.
Operating across three sites and with two Patient Navigators involved, the implementation has so far approached 170 individuals, of whom 51 have been recruited into the programme. A total of 32 participants have completed the first follow-up phase (T1), and one individual has reached the second follow-up phase (T2), with seven drop-outs recorded to date. The overall recruitment rate stands at 30%.
Among the main challenges identified is the limited availability of new patients at one of the sites, as well as feedback on the length of the initial questionnaire, which one participant found too long. These insights highlight the importance of flexibility and responsiveness in the design and delivery of the intervention.
Despite these barriers, the range of activities proposed to participants shows strong alignment with their health priorities. Most interventions focused on nutrition, obesity, and physical activity, followed by smoking cessation and risky behaviours related to alcohol use.
The Greek pilot demonstrates the potential of tailored, person-centred strategies to engage individuals often left out of preventive care — and to make cancer prevention more inclusive, step by step.
