Increased cancer awareness among British adolescents after a school-based educational intervention: a controlled before-and-after study with 6-month follow-up.

Kyle, Richard G; Forbat, Liz; Rauchhaus, Petra; Hubbard, Gill

Abstract

Background: There is a lack of evidence around the effectiveness of school-based interventions designed to raise adolescents' cancer awareness. To address this deficit this study assessed the impact of an intervention delivered in the United Kingdom by Teenage Cancer Trust on: recall (open question) and recognition (closed question) of cancer warning signs; knowledge of common childhood, teenage, male and female cancers; awareness of the relationship between cancer and age; anticipated medical help-seeking delay; perceived barriers to seeking medical advice about cancer; and examined variation of intervention effect by gender and whether adolescents reported that they knew someone with cancer. Methods: The Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) was completed by 422 adolescents (male: 221, 52.4%) aged 11-17 years old (mean age=13.8, standard deviation=1.26) two weeks before and two weeks after the intervention in three schools, and on two occasions four weeks apart in a fourth (control) school. Intervention schools were followed-up 6-months post-intervention. Results: Recognition of nine common cancer warning signs significantly increased two weeks after the intervention (4.6 to 6.8, p less than 0.001) and was maintained at 6-month follow-up (6.2, p less than 0.001). Endorsement of emotional barriers to help-seeking 'not confident to talk about symptoms' (53% to 45%, p=0.021) and 'worried about what the doctor might find' (70% to 63%, p=0.021) significantly decreased two weeks after the intervention but changes were not maintained at 6-months. The intervention had a greater impact on females and those who knew someone with cancer. Conclusions: The intervention is an effective way to raise adolescents' cancer awareness, especially of cancer symptoms. Further development and evaluation is required to maximise intervention impact, particularly on barriers to help-seeking behaviour.

Citation

Kyle, R. G., Forbat, L., Rauchhaus, P., & Hubbard, G. (2013). Increased cancer awareness among British adolescents after a school-based educational intervention: a controlled before-and-after study with 6-month follow-up. BMC Public Health, 13, 190-201. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-190

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2013
• Deposit Date: Jan 19, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 19, 2015
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
• Publisher: BMC
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Pages: 190-201
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-190
• Keywords: School-based interventions; cancer awareness; adolescents; Teenage Cancer Trust
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/7486
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-190