Widening access to online health education for lung cancer: a feasibility study

Having lung cancer is associated with accessibility issues because people afflicted with lung cancer tend to be older and less familiar with technology, and have low education levels and low health literacy. Fear, embarrassment and stigmatization also play a role. This makes it difficult for people to access the information they need to understand and manage their illness, particularly in the time before the diagnosis. We can mitigate these disadvantages and bridge the accessibility gap by ensuring people at risk for lung cancer are informed about symptoms and when to seek medical advice. The Web is uniquely placed to fulfill this role. We therefore developed an online lung cancer symptom appraisal tool tailored towards people with low education levels and health literacy and based on psychological theory to target barriers like fear and embarrassment. At present we are conducting a feasibility study to assess whether it is possible to reach the high risk population and encourage early help-seeking. So far, 97 users have participated, 97.9% of which report symptoms and risk factors that indicate they should seek medical help. 34% report education levels below school leaving qualification. Our tool led to a significantly higher intention to seek medical help than the same information without theory-based components (p = 0.01). Our initial analyses suggest this is a suitable approach to widening health education to excluded groups.