The ‘Be Cancer Alert Campaign’: protocol to evaluate a mass media campaign to raise awareness about breast and colorectal cancer in Malaysia

Abstract

BackgroundBreast and colorectal cancer are the two most common cancers in Malaysia. Low awareness coupled with stigma and erroneous beliefs delay help-seeking behaviours, lead to late presentation and contribute to poor detection rates. Promoting cancer awareness through mass media may be effective in improving cancer-related knowledge and uptake in screening tests. However, research is sparse regarding the cultural translation and implementation of mass media campaigns in Malaysia (and Asia) in terms of raising awareness about colorectal and breast cancer.MethodsA collaborative partnership comprising researchers from Malaysia and the UK as well as policy makers, public health experts and non-government organisations from Malaysia was formed to design, deliver and evaluate the Be Cancer Alert Campaign. Each awareness-raising campaign will run for five weeks (Colorectal Cancer in April 2018, followed by Breast Cancer in October 2018). Evaluation of the campaigns will take place in Gombak district (Colorectal Cancer) and Petaling district (Breast Cancer) respectively, in the form of a pre-post randomly selected household survey and collection of service utilisation data. Occupants who are aged 40-years and above and are able to answer questions independently will be selected from each household. A sample of 730 with 80% power will detect a change of 6.09% in knowledge that unexplained lump or swelling is a symptom of breast cancer or changes in bowel habits is a symptom of colorectal cancer.DiscussionMalaysia and most South-East Asian countries have a low middle-income economy, with limited resources for cancer control. Late-staged cancers impose a significant economic burden on patients, households, communities, employers, health systems and governments. Our proposed strategy for the implementation of the culturally sensitive mass media cancer awareness-raising campaign will serve as a blueprint for cancer prevention and control policy in South-East Asian countries where the burden of cancer is increasing and there are high cancer death rates.

Perceptions and attitudes towards dementia among university students in Malaysia

“…This may highlight the growth in presence of dementia in the media, or may represent differences between the countries. As mass media campaigns are a successful way of distributing health related messages, this may be an appropriate for Malaysia, and is currently being trialled for the communication of cancer related information [29].…”

Change in public awareness of colorectal cancer symptoms following the Be Cancer Alert Campaign in the multi-ethnic population of Malaysia

“…It was estimated that 550 participants would allow 80% power to detect, as statistically significant at the 5% level, an increase by 6% in the proportion of individuals who were aware of changes in bowel habits as a symptom of CRC based upon a two sided McNemar's Test [9].…”

“…All components of the BCAC-CRC were implemented as planned and described in our pre-specified protocol and according to procedural checklists [9] (Additional file 1: Table 1).…”

“…Indian (6.9%) [13]. The sample was drawn from Selangor State, specifically from the Rawang area because of its multi-ethnic composition [9]. Trained research assistants visited randomly selected households and invited residents to participate if they I) were aged 40 years or older, II) spoke English or Malay, III) were able to provide answers independently without support from others and IV) provided consent.…”

Translation and Validation of the Breast Cancer Awareness Measurement Tool in Malaysia (B-CAM-M)

“…breast cancer symptoms in Malaysia in order to counter delayed diagnosis. Cancer awareness campaigns intend to transform the attitudes and behaviours of the public and to change their perspectives on traditional and social norms (Schliemann et al, 2018). A number of campaigns and awareness raising events have been organised over the years in Malaysia, however, systematic evaluation of these awareness raising efforts is lacking (Loh et al, 2017).…”