Evaluation of a three-year school-based intervention to increase adolescent sun protection

Health Educ Behav. 1999 Jun;26(3):396-408. doi: 10.1177/109019819902600309.

Abstract

The efficacy of a school-based intervention was evaluated using a randomized controlled trial in Australia. In consecutive grades (8, 9, and 10), students in the intervention group received components of a program that addressed issues related to the need to protect yourself from the sun, behavioral strategies related to using sun-protective measures, personal and social images of having a tan, the use of sun-safe clothing, and how to change their schools through forms of structural change. Pre- and postintervention measures among junior high school students showed greatest improvement in the intervention group's knowledge scores and minimal changes in sun protection behavior from Grade 8 to Grade 9, which were not maintained through Grade 10. Results of the study highlight some limitations of school-based interventions for changing sun protection behaviors.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Multicenter Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Australia
  • Curriculum
  • Health Education / methods*
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Humans
  • Process Assessment, Health Care
  • School Health Services*
  • Skin Neoplasms / prevention & control*
  • Sunburn / prevention & control*