Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

  • 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021
  • Project No: 467
  • Funding round: FR19

Breast cancer is the most common female cancer in the UK, with around 55,000 new diagnoses a year. Some women are at a higher risk of cancer than the rest of the population. According to the NICE guidelines, women at moderate risk have a 17% to 30% chance of developing breast cancer over their lifetime. Recent research suggests that some medicines, together known as chemoprevention, can reduce the risk of cancer for women at moderate risk by up to a third. However, despite the potential benefit, most women do not opt to take chemoprevention. In order to help women make informed decisions about whether to take chemoprevention, we must find the best ways of sharing information about its potential harms and benefits.

This project has two aims: (i) to understand women’s personal preferences for how information on the harms and benefits of chemoprevention are presented, (ii) to examine if information on the harms and benefits of chemoprevention, presented in a variety of formats, supports women to make an informed choice about chemoprevention uptake.

We will recruit 1000 women aged 18 and over from general practice waiting rooms. Women will provide information on their background, including their knowledge and attitudes towards chemoprevention. Women will be allocated to one of three groups, each focusing on a different type of chemoprevention. Information on the harms and benefits of that type of chemoprevention will be shown in four different ways (e.g. written text, bar charts), and participants will be asked whether they would consider taking the medication to reduce the risk of breast cancer after each one. Finally, women will again be asked about their knowledge and attitude towards chemoprevention to see if this has changed. 

The findings will inform the development of a chemoprevention decision support aid to help women and their GPs to make informed decisions about future care. 

Co-applicant

Fiona Walter (Cambridge)

 

Amount awarded: £18 777.00

Projects by themes

We have grouped projects under the five SPCR themes in this document

Evidence synthesis working group

The collaboration will be conducting 18 high impact systematic reviews, under four workstreams.