Find Cancer Early: Evaluation of a community education campaign to increase awareness of cancer signs and symptoms in people in regional Western Australians

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer outcomes for people living in rural and remote areas are worse than for those living in urban areas. Although access to and quality of cancer treatment are important determinants of outcomes, delayed presentation has been observed in rural patients. Methods: Formative research with people from rural Western Australia (WA) led to the Find Cancer Early campaign. Find Cancer Early was delivered in three regions of WA, with two other regions acting as controls. Staffdelivered the campaign using a community engagement approach, including promotion in local media. Television communications were not used to minimize contamination in the control regions. The campaign evaluation ..