Cardiff University researchers are examining how the use of WhatsApp can engage black men in Butetown and Grangetown with prostate cancer risk information and increase prostate cancer awareness. New research funded by Cancer Research UK will fund a collaborative project at Cardiff University to examine the effectiveness of using WhatsApp as a tool for sharing cancer risk information among peers in the black community. Dr Sarah Fry, Cardiff University School of Healthcare, said: “Black men have a high risk of prostate cancer, with a 1 in 4 risk of developing the disease and currently have low rates of diagnosis .
“We want to develop a sustainable way of increasing awareness of prostate cancer within these communities, which is essential for early detection and diagnosis.” In partnership with two lay participant co-investigators in the African-Caribbean and Somali communities in Cardiff, researchers from Cardiff University’s School of Healthcare Sciences, School of Medicine and School of Computer Science and Informatics, will conduct a pilot study to test if using peer-led WhatsApp groups can improve awareness and potentially increase early detection and diagnosis amongst black men. “We decided to use the WhatsApp platform for this project as my previous work, supported by Cardiff University Future Leaders in Cancer Research, has suggested that men in the black community would prefer to receive health information from friends in WhatsApp groups.
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