Evaluation of Talk Cancer, a cancer awareness training programme for community-based health staff and volunteers

Abstract

BackgroundCancer Research UK's cancer awareness training programme, Talk Cancer, aims to equip and empower frontline health staff and volunteers to raise cancer awareness and promote health behaviour change in their community. Each interactive workshop aims to increase knowledge of messages around prevention, screening, and early diagnosis, and improve confidence in talking to the public about these issues. This study assessed the effect of workshops conducted across England between April, 2013, and March, 2014. MethodsSurveys before and after each workshop were completed by 346 (73%) of 473 trainees on the same day as training, and 14 in-depth qualitative telephone interviews were conducted with attendees recruited opportunistically. Surveys measured awareness of nine risk factors for cancer and of the three National Health Service cancer screening programmes, associations with the word cancer, and confidence to discuss four cancer-related topics with members of the public. Differences in responses before and after the workshops were analysed with χ2. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically, and themes were independently verified by two researchers. FindingsSurvey data indicated that awareness of all nine risk factors significantly increased (from 28% [67/240] before the workshops to 52% [131/251] after, p<0·0001) as did awareness of all three screening programmes (76% [218/287] to 98% [280/286], p<0·0001). Feeling fairly or very confident to discuss all four cancer-related topics also increased significantly (35% [92/263] to 98% [263/269], p<0·0001). Trainees most commonly associated words related to hope and survival with cancer after the workshops and words related to death and fear before the workshops. Interviewees reported feeling more open to the topic of cancer and more able to initiate and manage conversations about cancer. They also reported learning about the link between lifestyle and cancer and the importance of early diagnosis and said they were disseminating early diagnosis messages. InterpretationTalk Cancer training increased awareness of prevention and early diagnosis and increased confidence to talk about cancer. It helped trainees feel more open about cancer and more able to have conversations with the public, particularly about the importance of early diagnosis. Although post-workshop surveys were completed immediately after the workshops and the sample for interviews was small and self-selected, use of quantitative and qualitative methods helped to verify findings and enrich results. FundingNone.