Sun protection in childhood is important to reduce the risk of developing skin cancer later in life. The "Periods-of-Life-Program" for primary prevention of skin cancer introduces a combination of individual and environmental interventions for the preschool period. Within this pilot study, an intervention group received cognitive-behavioral and environmental interventions. A control group had solely received the environmental intervention, and a wait-control group received no intervention. Nursery school children (n = 80, 3 to 6 years of age) of four nursery schools were randomly assigned to these groups on school level. The ability of the cognitive-behavioral intervention (a theater play) to enhance sun protection knowledge was examined. The theater play improved knowledge over all age groups (p < .05 η(2) = .06). Age-specific analyses showed better results for children aged 5 to 6 (p < .05 η(2) = .20) compared to children aged 3 to 4 years (p = .17 η(2) = .04). In combining cognitive-behavioral and environmental interventions, the "Periods-of-Life-Program" is a promising strategy for primary prevention of skin cancer.
At least one third of all newly diagnosed cancers could be prevented if lifestyle factors were changed. The University Cancer Center Dresden initiated two programs aiming at cancer awareness and intentions to engage in health-promoting behavior among children and adolescents. Study 1 examined sun protection knowledge of 80 preschool children in a non-randomized design and Study 2 inspected 235 7th grade students' knowledge of cancer and its behavioral risk-factors as well as intentions on health-promoting behavior using a randomized pre-post design on group-level. Study 1 showed significant improvement of sun protection knowledge in preschool children (p < 0.05). Study 2 was effective in increasing knowledge about risk factors for cancer (p < 0.001) and in increasing intentions to engage in health-promoting behavior (p < 0.001). Communicating health-related behavior in preschools as well as school-based programs targeting multiple cancer-related risk factors are promising tools for primary prevention of cancer.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.