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Two articles that I explored were Educating young men about testicular cancer:
support for a comprehensive testicular cancer campaign by Wanzer et al and
"It's because of the invincibility thing": young men, masculinity, and testicular cancer by
Singleton A. The first article did not have full text availability. I would attempt to find
this article by utilizing our library at Jersey Shore University Center or going to
Monmouth University’s library to see if they could order that article for me. I could also
go onto the link on the computer to attempt to purchase it from the journal.
My first database search using the term testicular cancer yielded 745 results of
articles on testicular cancer. That is an enormous amount of information to read through
and decide what would be important for a brochure. This would take many hours to read
through and decide what information would be important to include on a brochure.
When I included testicular cancer and prevention the results narrowed down to 89. I see
that testicular cancer is a broad topic that can encompasses many areas of care and
treatment such things as prevention, testing, diagnosis and treatment. When I included
testicular cancer and prevention it narrowed the results dramatically and may have saved
me many hours of reading 656 articles that may not have pertained to the topic of
preventing testicular cancer. I feel that narrowing the search would help me to make a
brochure. On my brochure, I want the information to be easy to understand and on a
reading level of grade 7 or lower, so that most people will be able to understand the
information. Making the search more specific can allow me to focus on the information
that I would like to highlight in my brochure.
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The two websites that I explored were the American Cancer Society and the
Testicular Cancer Resource Center.
The American Cancer Society was the first website to pop up under the search of
testicular cancer. When evaluating the website for accuracy, it appears to have a wealth
of information on testicular cancer. At the bottom of each page lists when the page was
last medically reviewed and when it was last updated. When you look at most of the
pages, no author is listed. Under the page Do I have testicular cancer? you can click on a
reference page that lists a variety of sources and websites. The fact that they medically
review the website makes me feel confident that the information is up to date and
accurate. One of the sites lists numerous individuals under their team of directors, editors
(including medical editors) and publishers. If you go onto their research tab it discusses
about collecting and interoperating data. Articles such as Rates of Testicular Cancer
Increasing in Young Hispanic Men (2014) and Study Links Marijuana Use to Testicular
Cancer (2014) list an author named Stacey Simon. When I placed her name in a Google
search, a Linked-In profile listed her as a Senior Editor at the American Cancer Society
with past experience with editing jobs at CNN and degrees at Stanford University
and Northwestern University. The American Cancer Society is an org domain. Their goal
is to save lives by helping people prevent and fight cancer by finding Cures and fighting
cancer through treatment and supportive services. It is a national community-based
volunteer health organization devoted to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. I
do not find that the information on this website is biased. The American Cancer Society
receives money from donations, and fundraising events such as Relay for Life and galas.
It does report receiving money from the United Way. The websites and links are dated
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and information seems to be current and relevant. A special browser or payment is not
necessary for you to retrieve information, but there is a donation tab. I find this website
to be relevant to my topic about testicular cancer and prevention. I feel that it an easy
website to navigate through and understand. I will most likely utilize this website for my
brochure.
The Testicular Cancer Resource Center’s website did not have references
available. It did report that it was last evaluated in 2013 and some pages are 2012. When
looking at its list of medical directors and clicking on their name for a link, many of the
links were not current which made me doubt the reliability of the site. The editor’s name
is Doug Bank and when you google him he claims to be an expert in testicular cancer
having been a stage 1 testicular cancer survivor. He is on Allexperts website giving out
medical advice and depending on the complexity of the answer depends on whether or
not he claims to be an expert. His education is listed as BS from MIT, MBA from
Northwestern and lists his experience as running this website. One woman asked him
about the relevance of his statistics on the website and he gave information about where
most of it came from generally. The Testicular Cancer Resource Center website is an org
domain. The Testicular Cancer Resource Center claims to be a “charitable organization
devoted to helping people understand testicular and germ cell tumors…provide accurate
and timely information about these tumors and their treatment to anyone… have
information for patients, caregivers, family, friends, and physicians…that our
information and links are of the highest quality, and we are blessed with the support of
some of the finest doctors in the field.” They do not claim sponsorship, but do accept
donations. I do not see a lot of opinions expressed by the editor, most is just facts and
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questions to ask. He does claim to be an expert about testicular cancer which I think is a
dangerous claim to put out their when you are giving people who may be medically naive
advice and you do not have a medical background. The website on some pages has not
been updated in years which I think can be dangerous since cancer care is changing daily.
There is not a special browser, but one link recommends you utilize Google to search
medical information. I did like the page on testicular self exam for my brochure, but
would definitely cross reference the information due to how old this site is and does not
appear kept up to date.
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References
Simon, S. (2014). Rates of Testicular Cancer Increasing in Young Hispanic Men.
Retrieved by http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/news/rates-of-testicular-cancer-
increasing-in-young-hispanic-men
Simon, S. (2012). Study Links Marijuana Use to Testicular Cancer. Retrieved by
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/news/study-links-marijuana-use-to-testicular-
cancer
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References
Simon, S. (2014). Rates of Testicular Cancer Increasing in Young Hispanic Men.
Retrieved by http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/news/rates-of-testicular-cancer-
increasing-in-young-hispanic-men
Simon, S. (2012). Study Links Marijuana Use to Testicular Cancer. Retrieved by
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/news/study-links-marijuana-use-to-testicular-
cancer
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