Promoting Oral Cancer Awareness and Early Detection using a Mass Media Approach

Abstract

Background and Aim: Less than 50% of oral cancer cases are diagnosed at early stages of the disease and this is in part due to poor awareness and lack of knowledge on the signs and symptoms of oral cancer. This study sought to measure the baseline awareness of oral cancer in Malaysia and aimed to increase public awareness and knowledge of oral cancer using a mass media campaign. Methods: Baseline awareness and impact of the campaign was measured using self-administered questionnaires sent via email to individuals. The campaign was aired on two national television channels and the reach was monitored through an independent programme monitoring system. Results: 78.2% of respondents had heard of oral cancer, and this increased significantly after the campaign. However, the ability to recognize signs and symptoms remains unchanged. We found that the level of awareness differed between the distinct ethnic subgroups and the reach of the campaign was not uniform across all ethnicities. Conclusion: This substantial study to measure the oral cancer awareness in Malaysia provides important baseline data for the planning of public health policies. Despite encouraging evidence that a mass media campaign could increase the awareness of oral cancer, further research is required to address the acceptability, comprehensiveness and effectiveness. Furthermore, different campaign approaches may be required for specific ethnic groups in a multi-ethnic country such as Malaysia.

Public Awareness and Knowledge of Oral Cancer in Yemen

“…These results support previous findings, which report that mass media is a common source of information regarding oral cancer (Peker and Al-Kurt 2010;Park et al, 2011;Ghani et al, 2013;Tadbir et al, 2013). A recent Malaysian study has assessed the impact of promoting oral cancer awareness of the public using a mass media campaign; the results showed a significant increase in the public awareness regarding general knowledge and etiology factors of the disease (Saleh et al, 2012). Furthermore, another study has reported that television advertising offered the largest coverage in an oral cancer awareness campaign in comparison to other (Eadie et al, 2009).…”

“…Only less than quarter of the participants knew that presence of red and or white patches was early signs of oral cancer. These findings are consistent with most of the published studies that reported lack of public knowledge regarding early signs of oral cancer (Tomar et al, 2005;Devadiga and Prasad 2010;Pakfetrat et al, 2010;Park et al, 2011;Agrawal et al, 2012;Saleh et al, 2012;Tadbir et al, 2013;Quadri et al, 2014). Such findings indicate that there is not enough attempt on giving information about first signs of oral cancer, and that is why most of people have not enough information about that (Tadbir et al, 2013).…”

Determinants of Health Information-Seeking Behavior: Implications for Post-Treatment Cancer Patients

“…Under certain circumstances, the media can contribute to amplifying the community agenda for social changes (Demers and Viswanath, 1999;Nessa et al, 2013;Saleh et al, 2012). Organized efforts for the promotion of public health, such as population-based health communication campaigns, often use the mass media as a powerful tool (Beaudoin et al, 2006).…”

Dentists' Perception of the Role they Play in Early Detection of Oral Cancer

“…The validated questionnaires were distributed to 988 practising dentists in Malaysia who attended two major dental conferences organised by the Malaysian Dental Association (MDA) held in Kuala Lumpur and in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The sample size for this study was calculated using a single proportion formula, based on the proportion of awareness among adults in Malaysia of 80% (Saleh et al, 2012) at the precision of 5% giving a total of 245 subjects. Pearson's chi-square and KruskalWallis tests were conducted to evaluate the association between dentists' background [gender, year and country/ region of graduation, participation in continuous medical education (CME)] and their knowledge and practice of early detection and prevention of oral cancer (knowledge on early signs and symptom, knowledge on risk factors, conducting opportunistic screenings and providing risk habits cessation).…”