National Awareness And Early Diagnosis Initiative: Cancer Awareness Measure, Anglia Cancer Network, 2009-2010

<p>The <span style="font-style: italic;">Cancer Awareness Measure</span> (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.).<br><br>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. The CAM was also previously known as the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative Cancer Awareness Measure (NAEDI-CAM).</p> In November 2009, the Anglia Cancer Network commissioned DJS Research to carry out a survey using the Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) tool to measure the levels of cancer awareness in the local populations. The survey was carried out in 32 urban and rural locations across Primary Care Trust (PCT) regions covered by the Anglia Cancer Network: Peterborough, Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Waveney, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. The aim of the survey was to provide a baseline assessment of cancer awareness for the Anglia populations covered by the six PCTs.<br> <br> The CAM tool was developed by Cancer Research UK and its partners to facilitate accurate and sensitive surveillance of public awareness of cancer over time, identify information needs and monitor the impact of campaigns promoting awareness and early presentation. It is now being used to establish cancer awareness levels more locally across the country. Further information about the CAM may be found on the Cancer Research UK <a href="http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/spotcancerearly/naedi/AboutNAEDI/Researchevaluationandmonitoring/naedi_cam/" title="Cancer Awareness Measures (CAMs)">Cancer Awareness Measures</a> web page.<br>