Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) was developed in 2007-8 to address the absence of a validated measure of general public awareness of cancer (Stubbings, S., Robb, K., Waller, J., Ramirez, A., Austoker, J., Macleod, U., Hion, S., and Wardle, J. (2009) 'Development of a measurement tool to assess public awareness of cancer', British Journal of Cancer, 101(2), S13-S17.).The survey includes measures of awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer, cancer risk factors, age-related risk, screening programmes and potential barriers to seeing the GP. Since then, Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has significantly revised and updated the survey, including a wider range of questions and collecting data online instead of face-to-face.
CAM data has been collected by CRUK approximately every two years from 2008 to 2019, moving to bi-annual in 2021. A COVID specific CAM was developed in 2020 and 2021 to measure the longitudinal impact of COVID-19 pandemic on cancer attitudes and behaviour and understand the contextual influences on cancer attitudes and behaviour during COVID-19. Further information about the CAM may be found on the Cancer Research UK Cancer Awareness Measures (CAMs) webpage.
Main Topics:The CAM questionnaires address the following topics: public awareness of cancer symptoms public knowledge of cancer risk factors barriers and enablers to help seeking uptake of screening programmes barriers to cancer screening (cervical, breast and bowel)experience of breast and cervical cancer screening symptom experience co-morbiditiesperception of symptom seriousness help seeking behaviours including remote consultation and re-presentation perceptions of remote consultation demographic variables including health behaviours such as smoking and fruit and vegetable consumption.From 2021 onwards, the questionnaire also covers:impact of COVID-19 on help seeking behaviourperceptions of safety from COVID-19 in different medical settings.The Special Licence version of the CAM dataset includes more detailed data on symptoms, risk factors and reasons for delay. Users should check the standard End User Licence (EUL) version of the study to see whether it meets their research needs before making an application for the Special Licence version.
Quota sample
Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)
