鼓励人们寻求有关潜在癌症症状的帮助从未如此重要。研究发现，早期的癌症寻求帮助在最贫困的社区中是最贫穷的，部分原因是不知道哪些症状可以表明癌症，以及对癌症的恐惧信念，使人们不愿去看医生。
The抽搐study (Targeted Intensive Community-based campaign To Optimize Cancer awareness) has been funded by Cancer Research Wales with the aim of helping people living in deprived communities to recognize vague cancer symptoms (e.g. persistent tiredness, losing weight without trying to) and seek advice from their primary care doctor.
A public awareness campaign was developed with public and healthcare professionals and has been running from July 2021 to the end of March 2022 in Cwm Taf Morgannwg – an area of high socioeconomic deprivation in South Wales. The campaign is spreading positive messages about the benefits of early diagnosis and what symptoms to look out for on local media, including buses, radio, Facebook and through the study superheroes – the TIC-TOC cancer champions!
Our cancer champions are at the heart of the campaign and hold an important key that is often very difficult to find – a link into the communities that we aim to engage. The cancer champions are from the local area and have been trained to raise community awareness of vague cancer symptoms, deliver messages on the importance of seeking medical help as soon as possible, and support people with symptoms to seek medical help. With the support of the TIC-TOC study team, our champions have been distributing messages both in-person and online, including using a cancer champion Facebook page.
The抽搐study is testing what the public and healthcare professionals think of the campaign. We want to find out if we can feasibly run this campaign and collect relevant data to test if the campaign can encourage people to seek medical help earlier with symptoms.
What does it take to be a cancer champion on the TIC-TOC study?
Well, the current feasibility phase of this study is attempting to answer this but what we do know so far is that our cancer champions are passionate and keen to make a difference. They have been engaging, resilient and open to adapting to the challenges that the pandemic has thrown at them.
使用Facebook与人们讨论潜在的癌症症状，这是限制限制的日常工作的一部分。癌症冠军还利用了可用的任何面对面活动，包括在社区中心提供支持小组，将海报放入商店，并将TIC-TOC运动品牌的药袋放到药剂师身上。
丽莎·豪威尔斯（Lisa Howells抽搐study: “The role has been very rewarding and we hope we have made a difference and encouraged many to make appointments with their GPs to discuss symptoms they have, especially symptoms that are not usually associated with cancer.” Angela Brennan, another cancer champion on the study, said “People are willing to open up and everybody has been very friendly and approachable and in a lot of instances just grateful to have somebody to talk to”。
Some questions that have motivated the study and we hope to answer are: What type of support and resources do the champions need? Was the training they received useful in setting them up for their role? How safe did they feel carrying out their role? And what difficulties has the pandemic presented and how can we help overcome these in the future?
For the purpose of understanding the feasibility of delivering this role, the cancer champions have been completing regular diary entries and will also be interviewed by the research team about their experiences. The study launched against a challenging backdrop of continued COVID-19 restrictions and we hope that our findings will help inform ways to effectively embed a cancer champion role into a community-based symptom awareness campaign for people from deprived areas.
The抽搐研究是由加的夫大学（首席研究员：Grace McCutchan博士和来自加的夫大学人口医学部的凯特·脑教授）进行的，并将在2023年春季完成。
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