MelaTools-Q Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
MelaTools Q: e-questionnaire to estimate the community prevalence of people at higher risk for melanoma
IRAS ID
134353
Contact name
Fiona Walter
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Cambridge
Research summary
Melanoma is the leading cause of skin cancer deaths in the UK. The 5-year MelaTools Research Programme has the overall aim of improving the diagnosis of melanoma by developing electronic ways to help patients and GPs monitor changes in moles over time.
One part of the Programme, The MelaTools-Q Study, is a questionnaire survey which will be carried out in 10 general practices in the East of England. Adult patients and their companions will be invited to take part in the GP waiting room. The short questionnaire will ask about melanoma risk factors, including age, gender, family history of melanoma, number of moles, skin type and hair colour. Further questions will establish other participant characteristics including ethnic origin, educational level and employment status. We will not ask for any identifiable information such as name, address or date of birth; however we will ask for post code sector (first 2 letters and number e.g. CB24) from which a median deprivation score for that sector will be determined and assigned to the record. The questions will be presented to the participants on a hand-held tablet computer with a touch-screen for answers.
We are aiming to recruit 2000 participants, and their responses will be analysed to work out how many people in the East of England are at increasd risk of melanoma, and what their characteristics are. This information will then be used in the next part of the Programme, to develop and evaluate smartphone applications for self-monitoring of moles by patients at increased risk of melanoma.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/WM/0405
Date of REC Opinion
30 Sep 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion