Effects of a Preschool Staff Intervention on Children's Sun Protection: Outcomes of Sun Protection Is Fun!

Abstract

The preschool is an important yet understudied setting for sun-protection interventions. This study evaluates the effects of Sun Protection is Fun! (SPF) on preschool staff behavioral and psychosocial outcomes related to protecting children from sun exposure. Twenty preschools participated in a 2-year, group-randomized trial to evaluate SPF, a behavioral intervention grounded in social cognitive theory and designed to be more extensive than previous preschool sun-protection interventions. The staff intervention included training, a video, newsletters, a curriculum, and sunscreen. Cross-sectional samples of staff completed surveys at baseline (N= 245), a 12 month intervention assessment (N = 192), and a 24-month intervention assessment (N = 225). At the 12-month and 24-month assessments, significant behavioral effects were seen for use of sunscreen, protective clothing, and shade. Knowledge, self-efficacy, and norms were among the psychosocial variables most affected by the intervention. This study demonstrates that the SPF intervention is effective in improving staff outcomes related to children's sun protection.

Getting in early: primary skin cancer prevention at 55 German kindergartens

“…Multiyear studies with repeated training sessions for staff members can positively influence sun protection of children in kindergartens with a further improvement after 2 years of repetition. 36 The certification might maintain the impact of this intervention by raising public awareness and reinforcing the 'sun protection arrangements'. The whole investigation reaching over 5400 children and their parents underlines the importance of learning appropriate sun-protective behaviour in early childhood in order to decrease the risk for skin cancer.…”

Development of sun protection behaviors in preschoolers: A systematic review

“…This systematic review evaluated five research articles chosen according to the study criteria (Table 1) [29][30][31][32][33] . The results obtained from the studies were grouped under the headings of "Research groups and characteristics", "Characteristics of program applied", "Evaluation of program applied", "Results obtained", and "Methodological quality of the studies", all of which are described in greater detail below.…”

“…All the studies were RCTs conducted between 1995 and 2007, with four being carried out in the United States of America 9,30,32,33 and one in Germany 31 . Regarding the samples of the studies included in the research, two consisted of children 29,31 one of parents 32 , and one of preschool personnel 33 , parents, and school principals 30 .…”

“…Regarding the samples of the studies included in the research, two consisted of children 29,31 one of parents 32 , and one of preschool personnel 33 , parents, and school principals 30 . The participants constituting the samples of these studies were either divided into three groups, that is, two intervention groups and one control group 31 , or into two groups 29,30,32,33 . A study by Bauer et al 31 (2005) was found to have the largest sample size (training group: 369 persons, training and sunscreen group: 465 persons, control: 398 persons), while that of Loescher et al 29 , (1995) was found to have the smallest sample (total: 142 students; intervention group: 66 and control group: 76).…”

“Fun, Fun, Fun”: Types of Fun, Attitudes to Fun, and their Relation to Personality and Biographical Factors

“…A search of PsycINFO found only 246 pieces with "fun" in the title, of which the vast majority were mostly concerned with using fun as an intervening or outcome variable in education, health education or other activities (e.g. [3][4][5][6][7][8] or with topics such as helping academics to write for a general audience [9] or carry out structural equation modelling [10].…”