Table 3.
Colorectal cancer awareness pre- and post-campaign (n = 730) and between BCAC-CRC recognisers and non-recognisers
| Survey question |
Pre n (%) |
Post n (%) |
P(McNemar) |
Knowledge improvement in BCAC recognisers n (%)a |
Knowledge improvement in BCAC non-recognisers n (%)b |
P (Chi -Square) |
| Signs and symptoms (unprompted) | ||||||
| Blood in stool | 33 (4.5) | 142 (19.5) | < 0.001 | 83/460 (18.0) | 38/237 (16.0) | 0.577 |
| Persistent abdominal pain | 165 (22.6) | 186 (25.5) | 0.150 | 84/359 (23.4) | 23/206 (11.2) | 0.001 |
| Change in bowel habits for several weeks | 69 (9.5) | 88 (12.1) | 0.102 | 55/432 (12.7) | 15/229 (6.6) | 0.020 |
| Feeling that bowel does not empty after using lavatory | 30 (4.1) | 48 (6.6) | 0.034 | 30/461 (6.5) | 11/239 (4.6) | 0.396 |
| Pain in back passage | 1 (0.1) | 6 (0.8) | 0.125 | 4/483 (0.8) | 2/246 (0.8) | 0.999 |
| Bleeding from back passage | 26 (3.6) | 14 (1.9) | 0.074 | 13/465 (2.8) | 0/239 (0.0) | 0.006 |
| Tiredness/ anaemia | 16 (2.2) | 25 (3.4) | 0.176 | 17/474 (3.6) | 5/240 (2.1) | 0.385 |
| Unexplained weight loss | 10 (1.4) | 33 (4.5) | 0.001 | 26/476 (5.5) | 6/244 (2.5) | 0.097 |
| Lump in your abdomen | 3 (0.4) | 9 (1.2) | 0.146 | 6/481 (1.2) | 3/246 (1.2) | 0.999 |
| Signs and symptoms (prompted) | ||||||
| Blood in stool | 394 (54.0) | 492 (67.4) | < 0.001 | 123/208 (59.1) | 55/128 (43.0) | 0.006 |
| Persistent abdominal pain | 372 (51.0) | 441 (60.4) | < 0.001 | 117/212 (55.2) | 49/146 (33.6) | < 0.001 |
| Change in bowel habits for several weeks | 335 (45.9) | 403 (55.2) | < 0.001 | 128/253 (50.6) | 43/142 (30.3) | < 0.001 |
| Feeling that bowel does not empty after using lavatory | 330 (45.2) | 396 (54.2) | < 0.001 | 124/248 (50.0) | 50/152 (32.9) | 0.001 |
| Pain in back passage | 256 (35.1) | 384 (52.6) | < 0.001 | 161/302 (53.3) | 53/172 (30.8) | < 0.001 |
| Bleeding from back passage | 339 (46.4) | 446 (61.1) | < 0.001 | 141/255 (55.3) | 51/136 (29.7) | 0.001 |
| Tiredness/ anaemia | 283 (38.8) | 379 (51.9) | < 0.001 | 137/275 (49.8) | 54/172 (31.4) | < 0.001 |
| Unexplained weight loss | 378 (51.8) | 415 (56.8) | 0.031 | 109/220 (49.5) | 48/132 (36.4) | 0.022 |
| Lump in your abdomen | 358 (49.0) | 410 (56.2) | 0.003 | 116/221 (52.5) | 57/151 (37.7) | 0.007 |
| Attitudes |
Pre n (%) |
Post n (%) |
P (Mc Nemar) |
Attitude improvement in BCAC recognisers n (%) |
Attitude improvement in BCAC non-recognisers n (%) |
P (Chi-square) |
| How confident are you that you would notice a CRC sign or symptom? (Those ‘very confident’ or ‘fairly confident’) | 223 (33.2) | 290 (39.7) | < 0.001 | 145/309 (46.9) | 53/152 (34.9) | 0.018 |
| How soon would you go and see a doctor if you noticed a CRC sign/symptom? (Those who replied < 2 weeks.) | 665 (91.1) | 678 (92.9) | 0.608 | 34/38 (89.5) | 20/22 (90.9) | 0.999 |
Missing information (for participants who completed follow up only): Prompted symptoms (n = 1); Confidence (n = 110), delayed help seeking (n = 70)
BCAC Be Cancer Alert Campaign, CRC Colorectal Cancer, n Number of participants
a Number of participants who recognised the BCAC and did not know the CRC symptom at baseline but knew the symptom at follow up, divided by the total number of participants who recognised the campaign and did not know the CRC symptom at baseline
b Number of participants who did not recognise the BCAC and did not know the CRC symptom at baseline but know the symptom at follow up, divided by the total number of participants who did not recognise the campaign and did not know the CRC symptom at baseline