In the past there has been no uniform health education message about the early signs of prostate cancer in the UK, and levels of awareness and willingness to seek medical advice will vary across the population. The Department of Health (DH) Prostate Cancer Advisory Group approved a prostate awareness pilot initiative which aimed to increase knowledge and awareness of problems with the prostate, including prostate cancer, in men aged 50 years or more, and to encourage reporting of symptoms to GPs without causing sudden rise in GP workload.
The pilot was organized by a charity with expertise in educational programmes and was launched on 2nd October 2006. Two independent evaluations were funded separately by the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, The qualitative study investigated the design and methods of promoting the initiative, and assessed the achievements and limitations with its delivery in reaching men across socio-economic groups and those at increased risk of prostate cancer. In visits to community venues, semi-structured interviews with staff at community pharmacies and GP surgeries, and conversations with nine community helpers it was found that nearly all intervention materials had been taken in community venues but not in all pharmacies and surgeries. The importance of intermediaries for extending the reach of the campaign into communities that traditionally professionals find hard to reach was demonstrated, and some interviewees showed attitudinal change.
Prostate Awareness Qualitative Research Report (PDF 1.78Mb)
A quantitative evaluation, conducted by the Cancer Screening Evaluation Unit, aimed to investigate whether there was a change in GP consultation rates and GP requests for PSA testing in Coventry and three control areas. The evaluations highlight the importance of monitoring the effectiveness of delivery of any campaign from the outset, the value of using routine data on medical outcome measures and the need to integrate measures of health seeking behaviour with other outcomes.
This report Evaluation of the effects of the DH prostate awareness pilot on consultation rates in primary and secondary care, and PSA testing (PDF 310Kb) gives the findings.
Data were collected for time periods before and after the launch of the pilot to assess changes over time. Data were also collected from three control areas in a different part of the country with broadly similar demographic and socio-economic characteristics, as more widespread events, particularly articles in the media, might have impacted on prostate awareness and could have coincided with the launch of the pilot.
These findings inform the programme of interventions being developed through the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative developed following the report on UK The Cancer Reform Strategy1.
Back to prostate cancer research.
The NHS Cancer Screening Programmes are not responsible for the content of external internet sites