The relationship between skin cancer and ultraviolet radiation is well established. Behaviors such as seeking shade, avoiding sun exposure during peak hours of radiation, wearing protective clothing, or some combination of these behaviors can provide protection. Sunscreen use alone is not considered an adequate protection against ultraviolet radiation. This report presents the results of systematic reviews of effectiveness, applicability, other harms or benefits, economic evaluations, and barriers to use of selected interventions to prevent skin cancer by reducing exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The Task Force on Community Preventive Services found that education and policy approaches to increasing sun-protective behaviors were effective when implemented in primary schools and in recreational or tourism settings, but found insufficient evidence to determine effectiveness when implemented in other settings, such as child care centers, secondary schools and colleges, and occupational settings. They also found insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of interventions oriented to healthcare settings and providers, media campaigns alone, interventions oriented to parents or caregivers of children, and community-wide multicomponent interventions. The report also provides suggestions for areas for future research.
The literature regarding the effectiveness of diabetes education of school personnel is scant, the methodology is inadequate, the results are mixed, and the focus is on a narrow range of outcomes. Further research is needed to define effective interventions for improving the health and quality of life of school-age children and adolescents with diabetes.
The Steps program, formerly known as Steps to a HealthierUS, was the first Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) program to support a community-based, integrated approach to chronic disease prevention. Steps interventions addressed both diseases and risk factors, focusing on the 3 leading causes of preventable deaths in the United States — tobacco use, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity — and the associated chronic conditions of asthma, diabetes, and obesity. When Steps shifted from interventions focused on individual health-risk behaviors to the implementation of policy, systems, and environmental changes, the program became an integral part of changing the way CDC addressed chronic disease prevention. In this article, we describe the shift in intervention strategies that occurred among Steps communities, the model that was developed as Steps evolved, common interventions implemented before and after the shift in approach, challenges experienced by Steps communities, and CDC programs that were modeled after Steps.
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