Does publicity about cancer screening raise fear of cancer? Randomised trial of the psychological effect of information about cancer screening
BMJ 1999; 319 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.319.7216.1037 (Published 16 October 1999) Cite this as: BMJ 1999;319:1037
- Jane Wardle, professor (j.wardle@ucl.ac.uk)a,
- Tamara Taylor, research psychologista,
- Stephen Sutton, senior scientista,
- Wendy Atkin, deputy directorb
- a ICRF Health Behaviour Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London WC1E 6BT
- b ICRF Colorectal Cancer Unit, St Mark's Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex
- Correspondence to: Professor Wardle
- Accepted 29 July 1999
Critics of cancer screening have suggested that the publicity associated with it can provide people with a new health worry.1 After a mass media heart disease campaign in Norway a national survey showed that 17% of those who had seen the campaign materials were worried about heart disease and that these people were most likely to make behaviour changes.2 No comparable data on publicity about cancer screening are available.3
We evaluated the impact of publicity about a new bowel cancer screening programme, comparing a group who had been sent information about the programme with a control group who had not.
Participants, methods, and results
Participants aged 55-64 were identified from family health services authority registers and confirmed by their general practitioner to be suitable for screening for bowel cancer. This study group is part of a randomised controlled trial of flexible sigmoidoscopy for the prevention of bowel cancer.4 …