The assignment is all about Research & Writing on the Topic: Exploring public awareness about cancer. It must be completed by using the Harvard style of writing with number of pages not more than 10 pages (2500 words).
There provided a synopsis for the above task which can be used to complete the task.
Synopsis:
There has been an urgent need to create public awareness regarding cancer. Public awareness aims at ensuring that the quality of patient’s life and families is given an immediate and fast priority. It also aims at ensuring that the patients of cancer are aware of the best practices aimed at improving the quality of life. Furthermore, public awareness is intended at ensuring that the general public is aware of the causes and the best ways of preventing cancer. The paper will explore public awareness regarding different types of cancer, causes, and preventive measures. The paper will also explore the various literatures regarding cancer.
Literature review:
Cancer is a worldwide medical challenge that affects different people throughout the world in various countries (Macfarlane et al., 1994). The various symptoms of cancer are common to some of the less serious illness and can be caused by various or a combination of carcinogenic substances. According to various researches, cancer develops as a result of uncontrollable cell division that leads into a substantial amount of tissue that gets produced into what is commonly referred to as a tumor (Lobo et al., 2007).There are various effective treatments that have been used to address and eliminate cancer such as radiation therapy, particular anticancer treatment drugs and chemotherapy (Wilt et al., 2008). Combining some of these methods can greatly assist in reducing the side effects and toxicity that emanate in a treatment that is less painful.
The origin of cancer dates back to the days of the Greek Physician Hippocrates (460-370BC). Hippocrates used the terms carcinoma and carcino to define ulcer forming tumors and non-ulcer forming tumors. Early physicians believed that cancer would come back even after it was surgically removed (Suss & Kinzel, 2012). According to Celsus, an early Roman Physician, “After excision, even when a scar has formed, none the less the disease has returned” (Sarokafas & Safioleas, 2009).The challenge of treating the disease is still a major challenge in the modern society.
There are various disparities regarding cancer awareness worldwide. Various researches have suggested that the level of cancer awareness differs in relation to the level of knowledge and area of residence. A research was carried out in South Africa to establish the awareness of breast cancer and cervical cancers in women living in both the rural and the urban areas (Pillay, 2002). The research emphasized on the past apartheid and its role in contributing towards awareness in South Africa. From the research, it was quite obvious that women in the rural areas were less aware of the cancers compared to the urban women. According to this research, one-fifth of women in South Africa have not heard of these two types of cancers with almost half of the women unaware of the self-examination technique of the breast cancer. The research also showed that half of the women in South Africa were not aware of the cervical cancer tests. From the research, it was also clear that low level of awareness was common in older and rural women who are more inclined to the traditional healers. These women consult the traditional doctors regarding abnormal cervical bleeding and lumps in the breast. From the research, it was also clear that high level of poverty and tough socio-economic conditions greatly contributed towards the lack of awareness and knowledge regarding cancer. According to Heidary (2013), poverty is a major contributor of cancer worldwide. He asserts that poverty is usually associated with various human ills. Because of the limited financial ability, the poor are usually exposed to environmental risks because of poor housing, high levels of malnourishment, lack of adequate knowledge and poor access to medical health. Furthermore, most people living below the poverty line have no suitable insurance. Cancer on the other hand can diminish the fewer saving; reduce the ability of one to go to work and affect the quality of life, thus reducing living standards. Another researcher also argue that the poor always suffer worse health and die at a much younger age compared to the affluent counterparts. The poor have a high maternal and child mortality rate, increased incidences of contracting other diseases and inadequate health security (Anderson, 2008). A recent research also showed that individuals with a low socio-economic status are likely to suffer from diabetes. Individuals who live under poor conditions are unable to meet the high cost of treatment, chemotherapy, and specific anticancer drugs. These individuals are also unable to afford oversees treatment in severe cases.
There are four major stages of cancer development, whichevery potential human being is expected to know. The knowledge regarding these stages is considered vital in addressing cancer among individuals within the society (Lu et al., 2012). A cell that becomes a cancer cell occurs in the company of other similar cells. This happens often, but not always. It can also result in a tumor just right at this particular tissue. This may not prove to be a threat neither. At this stage, it is referred to as situ cancer. This basically forms the stage at which cancer begins. It has been argued by doctors that certain cancers do not go beyond this stage. In the second stage, cancer cell is able to pass the thin, fibrous boundary to the specific tissue in which the cancer started. It is also likely to invade other nearby tissues. The invasion is considered a serious step since it indicates that the growth in cancer cells may be a threat to life. In the third stage, once the cancer cell has invaded the neighboring tissues, the daughter cells begin invading a lymph vessel. A lymph vessel carries lymph fluid from the blood capillaries into the tissues. As the cells head to the blood stream, they can get caught in the lymph nodes, which act as the immune system of the body. At this stage, it provokes the immune system, which can act on it through destroying it. Sometimes it may form a large lump in the lymph node, thus being a serious issue. The next step is always varied. The cells from the lump, which are found in the lymph node, can spread through the lymph vessels to other lymph nodes or directly into the blood stream. Alternatively, the cells from the original lump can invade the blood capillaries and spread through the blood. The moment the cancer cells are in the blood stream, they can go in any place of the body where they are likely to form and even spread further. This stage is usually referred to as the distant spread (Halazonetis et al., 2008).
These stages are considered very significant in the prevention of cancer. Understanding these stages in regard to cancer is very significant since it helps one to be able to address a condition at a much early stage. Medical doctors have argued that cancer can be treated at early stage. At this stage, the patient is likely to respond to chemotherapy radiation and any form of treatment effectively (Todaro et al., 2007). Cancer symptoms have proved to be very difficult to identify due to the different types of cancers that affect people. Some cancer symptoms are very easy to identify while some such as the pancreas cancer is very difficult to identify. The growth of cancer leads to the pushing of the blood vessels, nearby organs and nerve cells. Once the spread has occurred, it becomes possible to see the spread. Signs of cancer can be seen when one experiences fever, weight loss, or fatigue. This is due to the fact that cancer cells tend to utilize much of the body energy. Understanding these symptoms is very crucial since they help in the treatment of cancer at an early stage (Jones & Baylin, 2007).
According to the National statistics, one in every three persons living in the United Kingdom is likely to develop cancer through the course of their life (Parkin et al., 2011). The report also shows that out of four people who develop cancer, one is likely to die as a result of the cancer. From the statistics, it is also clear that in the United Kingdom, there are low levels of survival compared to the Western countries (Murray et al., 2012). In 2007, the Department of health in United Kingdom designed a Reform strategy with the aim of improving cancer services across UK. One of the most important components of this initiative was to create awareness regarding cancer on the general public (Weller et al., 2007).Various cancer awareness campaigned have helped in creating public knowledge regarding cancer. There is the need to carry more awareness campaign since it has proved that awareness campaigns result into people seeking for therapy, thus reducing the chances of acquiring cancer by a larger margin.
Methodology:
Under this section, it will be imperative to discuss some of the methods that will be used in collecting and analyzing data.
Primary research methods refer to the contemporary accounts of a particular event said or written by someone who witnessed or experienced the event being discussed. In this kind of method, the information can be collected through interviewing, giving questionnaire, or taking photographs. However, in this particular research, information will be gathered through interviewing and issuing of questionnaire (Thomas & Harden, 2008).
Secondary research method refers to gathering data through relying on scholarly journals and other written materials regarding the subject (Hair, 2007). This method depends mostly on the interpretation of the primary sources of information. In this particular research, information was collected through authentic sources including medical libraries and internet. Most of the sources included scholarly journals and medical books.
Qualitative Research is basically an exploratory research. This kind of research is used to attain comprehension of underlying motivations, opinions and reasons (Silverman, 2010). This kind of method provides a clear insight into the main cause of the problem. The method also helps in developing hypothesis or ideas for qualitative research. Quantitative Research can be used to quantify the main problem through creation of numerical data that can easily be transformed into statistics that can be used for future research(Dörnyei, 2007).
There are various advantages and disadvantages of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative Research method is very significant since it helps in uncovering the trends in opinions and thoughts (Bernard, 2011). It also presents a deeper insight into the main problem. In qualitative collection data methods, various methods can be used to collect data such as individual observations, interviews and participation (Smith, 2007). It helps in obtaining a more precise and realistic feel of the society that cannot be experienced in statistical and numerical data that can be applied in a quantitative research. There are various flexible ways that can be used to perform data collection, interpretation, and analysis. The method provides the ability to interact with the research subjects in their own specific language within their own terms and agreement (Kirk & Miller, 1986). The method provides comprehensive phenomena under research (Patton, 1980; Bogdan & Taylor, 2007). For instance, descriptive capability is generally based on unstructuredand primary data. The method provides an ability to interact with the interviewees or the participants directly.
There are various disadvantages of the qualitative method. The process lacks reliability and consistency since the researcher can use various probing techniques. Furthermore, the respondents can select particular parts of the stories and ignore other parts. The method requires high experience levels so as to attain the targeted information from the participant. One can easily depart from the research objectives in response to the transforming nature of the research context (Symon & Cassel, 1994)
Quantitative data method minimizes or eliminates the judgment subjectivity (Kealey &Protheroe, 1996). There is high-level reliability on the data that is gathered because of mass surveys and laboratory experiments observations (Balsey, 1970). There are other disadvantages of the method. For instance, the researcher may not have the information based on the context within which the situation has taken place. The environment within which respondents provide the require answers to the survey questions cannot be controlled. The process does not also encourage the continuous and evolving investigations of a research phenomenon.
The research method that has been used for this particular research is qualitative and quantitative method. These methods have been used due to the nature of research and all that is involved in the process. There will be the need to carry out various data collection methods such as interview and questionnaire. The data collected will be numerically analyzed putting into consideration the requirements of quantitative research methods. The methods will also be crucial since there will be the need to attain an understanding of the underlying opinions and reasons of the various scholars regarding the need to create awareness on cancer. The research aims at exploring ways through which public awareness can be created. There are various opinions and thoughts regarding the same hence there is the need to confirm these thoughts in a well-structured format.
Ethics:
Ethics is considered to be very crucial within this particular research. The research is qualitative hence the need to involve a study sample. Ethics is very significant since it helps in creating relevance and research authenticity. Ethics was observed at the initial stages of the research. Tutor provided the researcher with the authority to carry on with the research. Participants were randomly selected for this particular research. This was aimed at ensuring that the sample design is an accurate reflection of the data. The selected participants were aged 18 years and above. This was aimed at ensuring that the participants are adults and are aware of the research activity that is taking place. The first part of the data collection involved conducting thirty questionnaires with ten questions each. The questionnaires had questions regarding the research. The questionnaires were confidential, but the consent was still required. The second part of data collection involved conducting two interviews. In this second part, there was no need to interview an expert, because we needed general public views and opinions about the topic. The interviewees were expected to sign a consent form. The information in the consent form was very clear and written in simple language to allow the participants to easily understand the contents. Because all the participants had attained 18 years and above, there was no need for a parent as a witness. The participants were also informed that they had the right to withdraw from the interview before and during the interview. In order to ensure confidentiality throughout the entire exercise, it was imperative to use pseudonyms for the names of the participants. Participants were also not allowed to use their names in the interview forms. The participants were assured of the information confidentiality. The information was collected and saved in a database and later safeguarded by a password to ensure there is no information leak regarding the data collected or the participant’s information.
Conclusion:
The best method to use for this research was both quantitative and qualitative research. These methods were both appropriate due to the scope of the research. The research purpose was to address some of the vital issues in which most scholars had aired their opinion about. Primary data was therefore relevant to help confirm and align with the existing information. Due to the limited resources, a qualitative research was the most appropriate for the small sample size identified for this particular research.
You can as well include the facts and information of the two interviews illustrated below to complete the task.
1st interview;
Here I will have some information about the confidentiality and the security of the data from the interview.
1. Do you think that public awareness of cancer in the UK, improved in the past few years? Please explain why.
I would say there is good amount of information regarding cancer that you can find everywhere but icant say how much it change in past few years. I know how it looks now but i have nothing to compere it with in the past.
2. Do you agree with the statement, that government in UK are doing the best they can to increase the awareness of cancer? Please explain why.
Well if you look at amount of information you can get from NHS sits I would say they are doing good job at trying to raise awareness of cancer in general public. One thing i would say that it seems there are some cancers that don't get huge amount of publicity like for example breast or colon cancer.
3. Having to experience cancer first hand or someone close to you is very hard, are you aware of the help you can get to overcome the obstacles caused by this disease to you and your closest ones?
Thankfully I have never experience this terrible disease firs hand neither any of my close family but I had some friends that were afflicted by it. I think i have pretty good understanding of how and where to get help.
4. Have you had the opportunity to talk about cancer with someone, and if yes was it hard or easy for you?
Yes, actually not long ago I had conversation with my friend that had cancer and survived it. I would say it is kind of difficult to talk to someone who went through this life changing ordinal and you as healthy person can't even start to imagine how hard that is.
5. In your opinion, what is the best way to conduct cancer awareness campaigns? Internet, TV advertisements, street posters, leaflets, or maybe something else? Please explain why
It is difficult question to answer. I would say it depends on who are you trying to target with your campaign. Internet might be better medium when targeting young people that are researching lots of things on internet, TV is more suited for targeting older generation but that is my personal opinion. I think all of those means are very valid ways to raise awareness of cancer in general public.
6. Do you think that government should focus more on self-examination campaigns like breast cancer or testicular cancer? Both of them affect significant amount of our population and can be easily discovered, using simple body examination techniques
Yes I think it is very important to know things we can do to early find things that are wrong with our body, problem with this approach is there will be plenty of false alarm raised then again better safe then sorry I suppose.
7. Do you have some ideas you want to share, that can improve the public awareness of cancer in UK?
I think there are people that are getting paid to do this job :). I don't have enough knowledge to come up with this kind of ideas. Best I can tell you is give more information to people not much more you can do.
8. Western countries are generally more aware of cancer symptoms and disease than third world and developing countries. It is mainly because of high level of poverty and tough socio - economic conditions. What could we do to help make them more aware of the symptoms and disease?
To be honest I think education and giving information to public is the best way to raise any awareness.
2nd interview:
Here I will have some information about the confidentiality and the security of the data from the interview.
1. Do you think that public awareness of cancer in the UK, improved in the past few years? Please explain why.
I’m not sure about it, because I didn’t lived in UK my whole life. But few months ago I had a conversation with my friend about cancer and he said to me that not long ago there wasn’t much advertisements and general talking about cancer, so maybe it improved over last few years.
2. Do you agree with the statement, that government in UK are doing the best they can to increase the awareness of cancer? Please explain why.
I think the government is doing good job, not great but good. Almost every day I hear something about cancer in the TV or Radio. There are god amount of various awareness campaigns going around, and they are quite informative.
3. Having to experience cancer first hand or someone close to you is very hard, are you aware of the help you can get to overcome the obstacles caused by this disease to you and your closest ones?
Unfortunately my boyfriend had cancer not long ago. It was a horrible experience, but thankfully he went through it and now everything is okay. He had a great care provided by the clinic, and it wasn’t just directed to him, I could use it as well. We had a therapist provided by the hospital and we could contact her any time we wanted. We didn’t use it, but it was great knowing that we had some professional watching over us in this troubled times.
4. Have you had the opportunity to talk about cancer with someone, and if yes was it hard or easy for you?
Like I said before, my boyfriend had cancer so we talked a lot about it. At first it was really hard for me, I think even harder than for him because he was always positive and comforted me that it is going to be alright, and to be honest I should be the one comforting him not the other way around. But the hardest part for me was that I couldn’t do anything, I could just watch and comfort him. It was horrible.
5. In your opinion, what is the best way to conduct cancer awareness campaigns? Internet, TV advertisements, street posters, leaflets, or maybe something else? Please explain why.
I think that all of them are doing their job. The major factor here is the age of the public and they target them all very well. In my opinion the most important ones are TV and internet and they mainly target older and younger population.
6. Do you think that government should focus more on self-examination campaigns like breast cancer or testicular cancer? Both of them affect significant amount of our population and can be easily discovered, using simple body examination techniques.
Definitely yes. Everyone should be aware of what they can do themselves to discover cancer sooner. Maybe if my boyfriend knew that, he would get to the GP long before he did. I think the one disadvantage will be, that the queues to the GP will get longer because more people will find something disturbing within their bodies. I’m pretty sure not all of them will be accurate, but even if like 20% of people that went to the GP will get diagnosed with cancer, it would be a success.
7. Do you have some ideas you want to share, that can improve the public awareness of cancer in UK?
I’m not sure what can be done to improve the cancer awareness apart of TV, internet and other types of advertisement you mentioned before. I think at this moment we are quite aware of cancer as a society, so I would focus more on self – examination campaigns.
8. Western countries are generally more aware of cancer symptoms and disease than third world and developing countries. It is mainly because of high level of poverty and tough socio - economic conditions. What could we do to help make them more aware of the symptoms and disease?
I think the best way would be to educate them. I know that they have more problems in their own societies and they might not consider cancer as the most important one, but if we helped them a little they might raise their awareness and save some life’s.