mHealth Behavioural Intervention to Increase Breast Cancer Screening Rates Among Members of the Public

Summary

Late-stage presentation of breast cancer cases are on the rise in Malaysia. Encouraging breast screening practices can assist in early breast cancer detection. Literature has proven that behavior interventions in the form of behavior change health communication using social messaging applications is a viable strategy and potentially effective at motivating breast cancer screening among the public. Such studies are scarce in the South East Asian region, particularly in Malaysia, which is the prime motivation for the current study,

Based on this promising prospect, a randomized controlled trial will be designed to study the effects of applying persuasive health communication materials to initiate behavior change among a group of Malaysian women. Materials are delivered in the form of a health communication program over a social messaging application to promote breast cancer screening practices, which is either a clinical breast examination, or a mammogram. The investigators hypothesize that Malaysian women who are exposed to such materials that are designed based on behavior science and behavior change principles will be nudged and hence more likely to attend breast cancer screening compared to a control group.

Conditions

• Breast Neoplasm Female

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Standard Health Communication Intervention

Participants in this group will receive links and materials related to breast cancer screening from official sources (e.g. MOH, Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), etc.) that is already readily available and accessible by the Malaysian public. Frequency, duration, and platform of dissemination will be based on findings from Phase 1 of this study.

BEHAVIORAL

Behavioural Change Health Communication Intervention

Participants receive health communication materials designed using persuasive behavioural change communication principles and behavior science to promote breast cancer screening. Frequency, duration, and platform of dissemination will be based on findings from Phase 1 of this study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ministry of Health, Malaysia

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• National University of Malaysia

  collaborator OTHER

• Institute for Health Behavioral Research, Malaysia

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Clinical Research Centre, Malaysia

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nicholas Yee Liang Hing, MSc · Institute for Clinical Research, National Institutes of Health, Malaysia

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SCREENING

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

40 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-04-30

Primary Completion

2024-10-04

Completion

2024-10-04

Countries

• Malaysia

Study Locations