Readability, Suitability and Health Content Assessment of Cancer Screening Announcements

Cancer is the leading cause of death in Japan. A total of 805,236 new cases of cancer and 364,872 deaths from cancer were estimated in 2010 and 2013 (National Cancer Center, 2014). However, cancer screening rates in Japan are lower than those in Western countries. The screening rates for breast cancer in women aged 50-69 years and cervical cancer in women aged 20-69 years in 2010 were 80.4% and 85.0% in the United States, 77.0% and 78.6% in the United Kingdom, and 63.6% and 63.8% in Korea, but they were 36.4% and 37.7% in Japan, respectively (OECD, 2014). Other cancer screening rates in Japan are similarly low as follows: gastric cancer is 32.3%, lung cancer is 24.7%, and colorectal cancer is 26.0% (National Cancer Center, 2014). The Basic Plan to Promote Cancer Control Programs was launched in 2012. This plan aimed to increase cancer screening rates to 50% or higher (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2007). There are multiple barriers to cancer screening, such as knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of patients and providers (Womeodu and Bailey, 1996). In recent years, low health literacy (HL) has been recognized as one of these barriers. HL is the ability to understand health information and to use that information to make good decisions about one’s health and healthcare (Nielsen-Bohlman et al., 2004).