A cornerstone of health prevention, screening often remains marginal, delayed or avoided among young people. The reasons lie in a series of psychological and social barriers that call for a behavioural science approach to transform a missed opportunity into an empowering reflex. Here are a few examples.
Blurred risk perception
Screening has little appeal among 18-25‑year‑olds. Yet delayed diagnosis, whether for physical or mental health, carries a significant personal and social cost. The main barrier is cognitive: optimism bias leads young people to believe they are less exposed to risks than others. This distortion is compounded by present bias. The effort of booking an appointment and the anxiety surrounding the result outweigh the vague and distant benefit of preserved wellbeing.
“In light of this, the challenge for health stakeholders is to strengthen motivation and prompt action. But reversing the trend requires more than top‑down, factual information. Care pathways need to be reshaped, drawing in particular on behavioural sciences to make screening easy, obvious and even socially valued,” explains Sophie Ferreira Le Morvan, Executive Director of the APRIL Foundation.
An example from Occitanie: cervical cancer screening
The work synthesised in the APRIL Foundation’s third Expert Report illustrates the diversity of topics and approaches that can be explored. Implemented in the Occitanie region in 2024, the Appdate‑You initiative addressed cervical cancer screening, which many young women perceive as administratively and medically complex. The solution? An intelligent chatbot, integrated into messaging apps already widely used by young people, such as WhatsApp or Messenger. “By reaching young people through apps they use 50 times a day, screening loses its solemn and intimidating character. The tool provides clear information, simplifies practical steps and helps to de‑dramatise the examination,” explain the project’s authors. Screening becomes less about medical procedures and more about self‑care in just a few clicks. The results speak for themselves: 80% of participants in the test phase said they were interested in self‑sampling screening after interacting with the chatbot.
Turning screening into a celebration
Another country (Canada), another approach (outreach) but the same goal. DépistaFest turns STI screening into a friendly, festive event, thereby reshaping social norms. Getting tested no longer means “I engaged in risky behaviour”, but rather “I take care of myself and my community”. “Presenting screening as a positive experience rather than a medical obligation changes how the behaviour is perceived,” explains Geneviève Bergeron, co‑founder of Club Sexu and initiator of DépistaFest. “The campaign also pays close attention to visual representation, featuring a diversity of body types, skin tones and genders so that everyone can identify with it.” Once validated by the group, screening can become a marker of collective responsibility, making it more meaningful to young people and encouraging them to take the step.
Under the sun…
Cancer is understandably not a top public health priority for 18-25‑year‑olds. Nevertheless, raising awareness remains essential, particularly around recognising warning signs. The Brazilian Sunface experiment uses augmented reality on selfies to show young people how UV exposure could affect their future appearance if they spend too much time in the sun. By making the long‑term consequences of tanning tangible, the app helps counter present bias (which favours immediate pleasure over future outcomes) and naturally encourages prevention and dermatological monitoring, a first step towards medical screening when doubts arise.
Mental health: detecting distress early
Screening is not limited to biological aspects of health. Early identification of mental health issues is also a key prevention lever, particularly among young people. The Ahead of the Game programme illustrates the role everyday environments can play in this regard. By building on the sports setting, the programme turns clubs into detectors of weak signals. “Training coaches and young players to recognise signs of psychological distress (withdrawal, irritability, social disengagement) fosters a form of ‘peer‑based screening’ grounded in collective vigilance,” notes Paul Williams, the programme’s European lead. More broadly, embedding mental health in familiar contexts and promoting mutual support helps normalise discussion, reduce denial and stigma, and facilitate referral to appropriate psychological care.
The APRIL Foundation: a laboratory for sustainable solutions
For the APRIL Foundation, screening is one of the foundations of a culture of health. This vision is reflected in its support for Médecins Solidarité Lille, which addresses the issue of young people in extreme precarity not accessing healthcare. By redesigning reception spaces and training staff in a caring, non‑judgemental approach, the organisation succeeds in re‑engaging young people in comprehensive care pathways, including screening examinations. “This partnership illustrates our conviction that tomorrow’s screening will not be an injunction, but a service embedded in everyday life. Whether through a chatbot, a festival or solidarity‑based support, the goal is the same: to break the illusion of invulnerability and give young people the motivation to change their health behaviours in order to preserve their wellbeing,” concludes Sophie Ferreira Le Morvan.