Awareness of testicular cancer and testicular self-examination in young adults, and the efficacy of education-based media.

Abstract

e17022 Background: The prevalence of testicular cancer in adolescents and young adults creates a unique opportunity for education through social media. We investigated this populations’ baseline knowledge of testicular cancer (TC) and testicular self-examination (TSE) and identified the efficacy of various forms of media in educating young individuals. Methods: A survey was designed to assess participants’ baseline knowledge of TC and TSE. Participants were randomly shown one of three forms of educational media created by the Testicular Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. These were an infographic, a short (60 second) and a long (6 minute) video. Participants were then asked to correctly identify facts regarding TC and TSE. Baseline knowledge was analyzed by age (< 24 vs. > 25), and post-media knowledge was analyzed to determine the efficacy of each media form. Results: Responses from 328 participants were analyzed, with a mean age of 24.3 years, 40.9% male, 72.0% white, and 70.7% graduated college or a graduate program. Only 30.7% of participants reported being educated about TC, 25.9% correctly identified the 15-35 age group as having the highest prevalence of TC, and 26.3% correctly identified the TC survival rate as being 75-100%. The > 25-year-old group were significantly more likely to have heard of TSE (p < 0.001), performed a TSE if male (p = 0.043), encouraged males to perform TSE if female (p < 0.001) and correctly identify TC survival rate (p = 0.006) and treatability (p = 0.007). Long video viewers were significantly less likely to watch it in its entirety compared to infographic and short video viewers, and they were less likely to report an understanding of TSE compared to infographic viewers. Short video viewers were less likely to have properly identified the TC survival rate compared to both infographic (P < 0.001) and long video viewers (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Overall there is poor awareness and education regarding TC and TSE, with adolescents performing significantly worse than young adults. The infographic performed the best overall in completion and education about TC and TSE, with the short video performing similarly well, and the long video performing the worst. This suggests that easily dispersed and viewable forms of media may be the most effective tool for educating young people.[Table: see text]