Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Cancer Awareness Measure (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.).

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).

CAM data have been collected by CRUK approximately every two years from 2008 to 2019, moving to bi-annual in 2021. The COVID-specific CAM was developed in 2020 and 2021 to measure the longitudinal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer attitudes and behaviour and to understand the contextual influences on cancer attitudes and behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further information about the CAM may be found on the Cancer Research UK Cancer Awareness Measures (CAMs) webpage.

The CAM questionnaire addressed the following topics:

• public awareness of cancer symptoms
• public knowledge of cancer risk factors
• reasons for patient delay before contacting doctor
• public knowledge of common cancer types in men and women
• public awareness of cancer screening programmes
• demographic variables