At the start of the year, the ACT team spoke with TDC’s Youth Voice Participation Worker. The worker shared some of the topics which are regularly coming up in conversations with young people within the Youth Voice group at the 67 Centre in the North of Brighton. These topics included late cancer diagnosis and screening, access to health services, issues with getting appointments, and understanding what to expect from health services and rights for young people. Identifying these health concerns and inequalities affecting young people shaped a project within the group which aims to increase confidence, knowledge and advocacy when accessing services.
The Youth Voice group invited the ACT team into one of their sessions to provide information on cancer awareness, screening and cancer support services available to young people in the city. In March, an ACT team member attended the group and brought along CoppaFeel resources, including stickers, badges, and leaflets tailored to young people. We shared information on the different screening programmes, asking the group questions about what they already knew. There was lots of knowledge within the group around the benefits of self-checking for anything unusual, and that everyone’s body is different! Everyone took away a CoppaFeel card with details on how to sign up for a free text message each month reminding you to ‘check your chest’. The ACT team also brought along breast models which can be felt for lumps – supporting becoming familiar with how to self-check. These models, along with the CoppaFeel information prompted discussion around young people and cancer, including questions about why we get invited for breast screening in our 50’s, even though cancer affects so many young people. Several personal experiences were shared in the session, often surrounding close family members having had cancer, leading on to the importance of speaking to the doctor in case of opportunities for early screening.
The session ended with an opportunity for the group to provide some feedback on the new draft ACT materials. The team felt it would be important to ask the young people if the leaflet is something they would find useful, and any changes they would suggest to make it more accessible. The group commented on the colour scheme, “I like that the background is orange, as I am dyslexic so the information is clearer”. They also highlighted the use of QR codes and made suggestions about how many to use and where these could be better positioned.
