Effectiveness of ‘signs and symptoms’ campaigns for lung cancer: A rapid review

Lung cancer has the lowest survival rate of all cancers in adults, with only 13% of affected individuals in Australia surviving for five or more years following a diagnosis. It is generally recognised that early diagnosis of lung cancer could be an important factor in improving both the survival rate and patients’ quality of life. One way to facilitate the early diagnosis of lung cancer is to improve people’s awareness of the signs and symptoms of the disease (e.g. a persistent cough, coughing up blood, fatigue, and weight loss) and encourage them to attend their general practitioner (GP) for investigation of potential symptoms.The objective of this rapid review was to identify and examine lung cancer ‘signs and symptoms’ interventions which have been developed in Australia and OECD countries with similar healthcare settings (i.e. New Zealand (NZ), Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK)). This involved assessing the effectiveness of these interventions on influencing knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and help seeking behaviours (e.g. GP visits) in the general community and at-risk groups (e.g. smokers, individuals from a low socio-economic background, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. In addition, the effectiveness of interventions designed to influence the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours of health professionals was also examined