Ms Susan Moug's keynote speech 'The Promotion of Physical Activity - Everyone's Responsibility' at the SCPN's 'Be Active Against Cancer' conference, Tuesday 4th February 2014.

1. The promotion of physical
activity: Everyone's responsibility
Eluned Hughes
Breakthrough Breast Cancer

2. • We will lead the way to prevent breast cancer
– identify the genetic and lifestyle causes of breast cancer
– combine these results to create powerful tools that can assess an
individual’s personal risk of developing breast cancer
– find the best preventative drugs and understand how to use them
– ensure people understand the options available and benefit from
prevention, by embedding the outcomes of our work into healthcare
– continue to talk about breast cancer risk and how people can reduce
their risk through adopting a healthy lifestyle.
Breakthrough’s aims

3. What can charities add?
• evidence review: consensus of experts regarding the
amount and intensity of physical activity required to
significantly reduce breast cancer risk.
• developed messages to communicate these findings.
• tested to ensure they resonate strongly, and
encourage and inspire women to be more physically
active
• six focus groups in London and Leeds with women
aged 20 to 59 years, from a range of socio-economic
backgrounds, including women who had previously
experienced a diagnosis of breast cancer.

4. Feeling overloaded and confused by health information
can lead to distrust and disengagement
Page 4
Increased exposure to
(often conflicting)
health information has
created uncertainty
around who to trust
and what to believe
“One minute they tell you something
is good for you and then the next
its bad for you and causes cancer. ”
40-59yrs, not previously diagnosed,
C2D, London
• Women obtain health information from multiple
sources (online & offline), and place different
levels of trust in them depending on the issue
– Professionals e.g. GP, pharmacist, NHS Direct are
most trusted and used for more serious issues
– Magazines, friends and family, Google are used
frequently for more general health information
• They feel overloaded and constantly
bombarded with health messages from different
directions e.g. food, media, commute etc.
• Changing and often contradictory information
has caused confusion and even distrust of new
studies/ findings – and for some disengagement
• WATCH OUT: Breakthrough messaging needs
to work hard to compete in an already crowded
space and overcome base levels of distrust

5. Government guidelines around physical activity are
perceived by many to be irrelevant and unhelpful
• Some awareness of government physical activity
guidelines, however often rejected/ ignored
because they are felt to be:
– Unhelpful - too general, aimed at the average person,
lowest common denominator effect (studies carried
out with wide population)
– Irrelevant – everyone is different therefore
information is not tailored to me as an individual
– Have hidden agenda – not looking out for them i.e.
public vs. personal benefit
• Some women don’t want to be told what to do and feel
they should be able to make their own choices
• Charities are viewed differently and tend to be a
more trusted source of information because:
– Seen as experts (specific to health issue)
– Have no ulterior motive (although some negativity
around pressure to donate)
• Real potential for Breakthrough to capitalise on
this
Page 5
Health messages from
charities are perceived
as more trustworthy
and potentially more
relevant and useful
than the government
“Government guidelines are not always
useful for you, because they are
thinking about the government
interest, not yours.”
25-59yrs, previously diagnosed, BC1,
London

6. TRANSLATING THE EVIDENCE AND INSPIRING WOMEN TO BE
REGULARLY PHYSICALLY ACTIVE
Raise your pulse, reduce your risk
30 minutes of daily physical activity can reduce your risk of breast cancer by
at least 20%
Like us, physical activity comes in all shapes and sizes, so let Breakthrough Breast
Cancer help you find your right fit.
Find out more breakthrough.org.uk

8. PARTNERSHIP AND COMMITMENTS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH UNDER THE INNOVATION, EXCELLENCE AND SERVICE
DEVELOPMENT FUND
SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS
Partnership working
• Use the charity’s communication channels and corporate
partnerships to promote the public health messages
• Integrate public health messages in the promotion of
Breakthrough’s related events and activities
• Hold a stakeholder event with other organisations dedicated
to promoting health and wellbeing, in particular those
working with seldom heard/seldom seen groups to support
them in promoting our public health messages on physical
activity
• Ensure appropriate measurement of reach and, where
appropriate, other impact is integral to all these activities

9. A WHOLE-OF-ORGANISATION APPROACH
Breakthrough
supporters
Health
professionals
and other
influencers
All women
To include:
• Corporate partners;
• Breakthrough supporter networks
and groups;
• Other charity partners.
To include:
• Parliamentarians;
• Policy makers;
• Commissioners;
• Local authorities.
With a focus on:
• women not previously diagnosed with
cancer;
• women who do not currently undertake
regular physical activity;
• women over 40 (due to increased risk of
cancer and reduced likelihood of regular
activity);
• younger women to encourage sustained
physical activity across the life course;
• women from harder to reach groups.
Partnership working