Teenagers’ Cancer Awareness in Britain

Every year in the UK 2,000 teenagers and young adults (TYAs) aged 15-24 are diagnosed with cancer¹, of which around 180 (10%) live in Scotland².  This means that, on average, every two days someone in Scotland aged 15-24 receives a cancer diagnosis.  Skin cancer (melanomas) accounts for almost a quarter (24%) of these cases².  Yet, we currently know very little about teenagers’ cancer awareness and help-seeking behaviour.  A study conducted by researchers from the Cancer Care Research Centre (CCRC) at the University of Stirling has for the first time provided insight into cancer awareness among young people in Britain.

In August 2011 CCRC researchers conducted a survey of 478 young people aged 11-17 years old (male=52%, mean age=14) from four schools across Britain.  The study assessed adolescents’ cancer awareness using the Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) developed by Cancer Research UK³.  The survey revealed that:

• Half of all adolescents did not know the most common childhood (51%) or teenage (49%) cancers;

 

• Most teenagers (69%) believed cancer was unrelated to age;

 

• ‘Lump or swelling’ was the most recognised cancer symptom (89%) but symptom awareness was low for ‘unexplained bleeding’ (49%), ‘pain’ (46%), or ‘weight loss’ (41%), ‘difficulty swallowing’ (36%), ‘persistent cough’ (32%), and a ‘sore that doesn’t heal’ (24%);

 

• Most teenagers said that emotional reasons including being ‘worried about what the doctor might find’ (72%) would put them off seeking help from a doctor if they suspected they had cancer, and around half said they would be ‘too embarrassed’ (56%), ‘too scared’ (54%) or would ‘not feel confident to talk about symptoms’ (53%).

Cancer awareness was significantly lower among younger adolescents (aged 11-12 years) and those who did not know someone with cancer.  Females were significantly more likely to endorse emotional barriers to help-seeking.

This study provides an initial picture of patterns of cancer awareness among young people in Britain and  can be used to inform the development and delivery of targeted awareness-raising interventions. Such interventions have potential to contribute to early diagnosis and improved survival throughout the life course.

Further analysis of these data is currently underway to examine associations between adolescents’ awareness of cancer risk factors and health-related behaviours (e.g., smoking, sun-bed use).

The full report of the study can be found in the open-access journal BMC Public Health⁴.  More information can also be obtained from the authors: richard.kyle@stir.ac.uk / gill.hubbard@stir.ac.uk.

Dr Richard Kyle (Lecturer) and Dr Gill Hubbard (Co-Director)
Cancer Care Research Centre, University of Stirling

1. Cancer Research UK (CRUK): Cancer incidence by age – UK statistics http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/incidence/age

2. iSD Scotland: Cancer in Teenagers and Young Adults in Scotland (1979-2008) http://www.isdscotlandarchive.scot.nhs.uk/isd/1631.html#Teenage

3. CRUK: Cancer Awareness Measure Toolkit V2.1 London: CRUK; 2011.

4. Kyle RG, Forbat L, Hubbard G: Cancer awareness among adolescents in Britain: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 2012;12:580. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/580/abstract

This article was originally published in the SCPN Newsletter, Volume 3, Issue 4.
Read the full issue here: