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• Letter to Editor - Impact of mass media campaigns
  Ranell Johnson
  Published on: 7 December 2020

• Published on: 7 December 2020

  Letter to Editor - Impact of mass media campaigns

  • Ranell Johnson, Nursing Student University of The Bahamas

  Dear Editor,

  I have read and reviewed the article titled, “Impact of a mass media campaign on breast cancer symptoms awareness and screening uptake in Malaysia: findings from a quasi-experimental study.” I would like to congratulate the authors on such a successful article and make some recommendations.

  Your introduction was very strong, and your problem statement was clearly articulated. In the article, the impact on media campaigns had improved awareness about some breast cancer symptoms through mass media platforms. It was good that you displayed the high mortality rates within various years due to late detection. It was also good that you showed the correlation between the- high incidence of late detection and how mass media campaigns can improve awareness due to their lack of it in Malaysia; while also making recommendations such as nationwide education programs. For example, your statement, “in high-income countries, mass media campaigns have improved symptoms awareness and increased the number of BC referrals” along with other statements proved that mass media campaigns are effective in the promotion of awareness of breast cancer.
  I agree with your statement, “there appears to be a need for mass media campaigns to be tailored to particular subpopulations or hard-to-reach subgroups, especially in the context of multicultural societies.” Hence, there is improvement needed in terms of your campaign reach. Consider aiming to in...

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  Dear Editor,

  I have read and reviewed the article titled, “Impact of a mass media campaign on breast cancer symptoms awareness and screening uptake in Malaysia: findings from a quasi-experimental study.” I would like to congratulate the authors on such a successful article and make some recommendations.

  Your introduction was very strong, and your problem statement was clearly articulated. In the article, the impact on media campaigns had improved awareness about some breast cancer symptoms through mass media platforms. It was good that you displayed the high mortality rates within various years due to late detection. It was also good that you showed the correlation between the- high incidence of late detection and how mass media campaigns can improve awareness due to their lack of it in Malaysia; while also making recommendations such as nationwide education programs. For example, your statement, “in high-income countries, mass media campaigns have improved symptoms awareness and increased the number of BC referrals” along with other statements proved that mass media campaigns are effective in the promotion of awareness of breast cancer.
  I agree with your statement, “there appears to be a need for mass media campaigns to be tailored to particular subpopulations or hard-to-reach subgroups, especially in the context of multicultural societies.” Hence, there is improvement needed in terms of your campaign reach. Consider aiming to influence those difficult to reach subgroups (subpopulations and multicultural societies) by going into the communities itself because it may be unsuccessful to reach them by mass media campaigns alone.
  Additionally, I supposed it was good that you viewed breast cancer from a local perspective, considering the need for awareness and screening in Malaysia. However, the implications of screening should be considered. According to one study, they point out that breast cancer screening can have unfavourable effects and that the public must understand the process of screening exams and the risks of breast cancer screening because most often women only know about the screening but not the risks associated with examinations (Siddhapura, 2016).
  While the impact of mass media campaigns on the awareness of breast cancer is greatly effective and has great advantages for the public, it poses disadvantages as well. It is good to consider the already diagnosed women with breast cancer. According to Rees and Bath (2000), it was indicated that many breast cancer participants found mass media sources such as magazines to be frightening and depressing due to their current condition of breast cancer. Therefore, it is important that editors of mass media sources consider these women, become aware of such dichotomy, and provide more precise, truthful and less exaggerated information about breast cancer (Rees & Bath, 2000).
  Moreover, previous studies indicated that mammography, most common type of screening is associated with a small amount of radiation, which can be harmful. It was also indicated that screening procedures may pose a risk of false alarm, in which the mammography detects an abnormality that looks like cancer but turns out to be benign. BC screenings also poses a risk for interval cancers and overdiagnosis (Heywang-Kobrunner et al., 2011).
  It is essential to consider both aspects when performing a mass media campaign and that it would be a lot better for the positive BC individuals and the general public.

  Regards,

  Ranell Johnson

  References

  Heywang-Kobrunner, S., Hacker, A., Sedlacek, S. (2011). Advantages and Disadvantages of
  Mammography Screening: Breast Care. 6(3), 199-207.
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3132967/
  Rees, C., Bath, P. (2000). Mass media sources for breast cancer information: Their advantages
  and disadvantages for women with the disease. 56, 235-249.
  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235309185_Mass_media_sources_fo...
  Siddhapura, Y. (2016). Influence of Mass Media on Medical Screening, Specifically Breast
  Cancer Screening: Advances Writing: Pop Culture Intersections. Paper 11.
  https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=...

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  Conflict of Interest:
  None declared.

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