Colon Screening In the Community–A Community Program and Lesson Learnt

Abstract

Colon-cancer awareness talk, with free faecal immunochemical (FIT) kit conducted by volunteers for the residents living near a cancer community centre in Petaling Jaya, an urban city with a multi-ethnic population. The aim of this report is to present and discuss the outcome of a community screening talk with free FIT kit. 295 healthy individuals who met inclusion criteria consented to take part in the pilot, only 62 percent (184/295) showed up for the intervention. 11.7 percent (n=19) were tested positives but only 9 went for a follow up colonoscopy, and the remainder were still waiting for a colonoscopy after 6 months. Cancer is still a fearful topic despite better treatment, and screening tests offered beneficial outcomes for early detection and cure, but the uptakes for the screening with awareness talk at a community centre on weekends is slow. Better study with outcome measures and qualitative study to explore barriers and facilitators are needed.