Educating preschoolers about sun safety.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES. This feasibility study examined whether a sun safety curriculum designed for and administered to preschoolers affects their cognition (knowledge, comprehension, application) regarding sun safety. METHODS. Twelve classes of 4- to 5-year-olds were recruited from local preschools and randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group. The intervention group received an investigator-developed sun safety curriculum; the control group did not. Children in both groups were tested at the beginning of the study about their cognition related to sun safety. They then received posttests 2 and 7 weeks following the pretest. RESULTS. The curriculum had a significant effect on the knowledge (P = .01) and comprehension (P = .006) components of cognition. The application component of cognition was not significantly changed by the curriculum. CONCLUSIONS. A structured curriculum was found to be an efficacious means of enhancing knowledge and comprehension of sun safety in preschool children. At the preoperational developmental stage, however, children may not be able to apply such knowledge and comprehension.

SUCCESSFUL BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS TO PREVENT CANCER: The Example of Skin Cancer

“…Children in the intervention group (n = 54) showed more knowledge and comprehension both two and seven weeks after the intervention than did children in the control group (n = 68). The ability to transfer the concepts learned was not different between groups, but this was not surprising due to the developmental age of the children (34).…”

“…Loescher et al (34) randomly assigned four-to five-year old children from 12 different schools to either a three-session "Be Sun Safe" curriculum or to a control group. The intervention focused on the development and practice of positive sun protection behaviors.…”

Assessing children's ultraviolet radiation exposure: the potential usefulness of a colorimeter.

“…This paper addresses the following questions: (1) Does the measurement protocol produce reliable estimates? (2) Six sites on each child's body were measured in the following order: the right lower and upper leg, the right lower and upper arm, the forehead, and the underarm (as the "unexposed" site). A protocol was developed for temporarily marking the sites to be measured by the Chroma Meter to help ensure uniform measurement within and across subjects.…”

Improved sun protection behaviour in children after two years of the Kidskin intervention

“…Most have been undertaken in the United States and have been fairly modest, delivered over a few days or weeks. Some produced short-term changes in knowledge, attitudes or perceived susceptibility, [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] while others also had a positive effect on reported sun protection behaviour. [19][20][21][22][23][24] Two more intensive, multicomponent interventions aimed at children aged 9-13 years improved reported sun protection behaviour, 7,25 while another in adolescents did not.…”

“…27 In 1995, we began 'Kidskin', a five-year intervention study involving a cohort of children recruited from 33 primary schools in Perth. 28 Although a few US intervention studies had targeted young children, 15,29 none in Australia had. The Kidskin study aimed to design, implement and evaluate an intervention to improve sun protection behaviour in young children.…”