Acceptability and accessibility of using peer-led WhatsApp groups for sharing prostate cancer risk information between black men: a pilot study.

Background: Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed tumour in men, and the fifth leading cause of death related to cancer worldwide.

Black men, alongside men with a family history of prostate cancer, have the highest risk of all men, yet diagnosis rates remain low.

Reasons for this are not clear, although are thought to be mediated by the intersection with ethnicity, socioeconomic status, individual capability, and psychosocial factors.

This pilot study will start to address capability and psychosocial factors by building on previous work with men from the black community who have suggested peer-led methods to raise awareness for early detection and diagnosis of prostate cancer. The aims of this pilot research are: 1.

Study the acceptability and accessibility of using a peer-led WhatsApp community to share prostate cancer risk messages. 2. Study the acceptability and accessibility of peer-developed prostate cancer risk messages. Method: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design will be used.

Quantitative data will first be collected in the form of a survey, using the Sekhon Theoretical Framework of Acceptability with up to 50 people.

Alongside this, data will be collected using a unique study URL for the Prostate Cancer UK Prostate Cancer Risk Checker, through which we will collect anonymised data on how far through the checker men proceed as a measure of accessibility.

We will also measure the safety of using WhatsApp as an intervention through an evaluation of the privacy and security features of the communication platform.

Sequentially, the data will be further developed using semi-structured interviews with participants invited from the WhatsApp group (up to 20 people).

The two men involved from the public involvement group, will also be interviewed to ascertain their thoughts on the success, or otherwise, of the peer-led use of message development and WhatsApp.

How the results of this research will be used: The results will be used to inform a logic model and communication strategy for development of a wider public involvement and academic collaboration, to develop a CRUK Detection and Diagnosis Project Award to refine the use of WhatsApp as a peer-led cancer risk sharing tool scaled-up to a wider geographical area, and across cancer sites.