Health literacy is a major determinant of health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health literacy as the “cognitive and social skills that determine an individual’s motivation and ability to access, understand, and use information to promote and maintain good health”. In this context, cancer literacy refers to all the knowledge a layperson needs to possess to understand the information and advice the health system provides concerning cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Understanding and improving cancer prevention literacy is a key component of public health strategies aimed at reducing cancer incidence and promoting health equity.

Under the World Code Against Cancer Framework, the concept of cancer prevention literacy is defined as an umbrella term encompassing interrelated constructs drawn from several behavioural change theories and models, such as beliefs about cancer, risk perception, awareness about cancer prevention, knowledge of cancer prevention and risk factors, intention to change behaviours, self-efficacy to engage in cancer prevention, and adherence to behaviours (see figure below).

Building on existing cancer prevention awareness questionnaires, within the World Code Against Cancer Framework a comprehensive questionnaire for adults in the general population has been developed and validated: the Cancer Prevention Literacy Questionnaire (CPL-Q), which is suitable for evaluating the impact of Regional Codes Against Cancer and beyond.

More information will be available soon