Effects of the Sunny Days, Healthy Ways Curriculum on Students in Grades 6 to 8

A survey of sun protection policy and education in secondary schools

“…Such approaches may not address the breadth of content, such as emphasizing the health consequences, effectively teaching prevention strategies using behavioral modeling and goal-setting, and addressing common barriers to sun protection encountered by adolescents (eg, peer pressure to tan), needed to motivate children to take precautions. [7][8][9] Some school personnel appear receptive to the idea of adopting formal instructional materials on sun safety. Unfortunately, evidence-based sun safety instructional materials for secondary schools is in limited supply, 5,10 although we reported that the Sunny Days, Healthy Ways curriculum produced positive outcomes in grades 6 through 8.…”

Concurrent Psychosocial Predictors of Sun Safety Among Middle School Youth

“…More sun protection was practiced later in the study period due to seasonal increase in ultraviolet radiation. 20 Generalizability of the results is also somewhat limited because our sample was composed predominantly of young white adolescents in the western United States. Melanoma, however, is primarily a disease of whites, whose rates are over 10 times higher than those in blacks.…”

“…The 2-week test-retest kappa statistic for barriers and peer norms was .67. 20 Knowledge was measured with 10 true/false items, and lower scores indicated less knowledge. The 2-week test-retest kappa statistic for knowledge was .39.…”

“…Details on recruitment, construct selection, psychometrics, and intervention results are published elsewhere. [19][20][21] Briefly, schools were enrolled upon obtaining consent from principals and district personnel. All forms and procedures were approved by each site's institutional review board.…”

“…Although the kappa was low, concordance rates were over 80%. 20 For SEM purposes, 2 summary knowledge variables were created-one capturing knowledge about sunburn (6 items) and the other capturing knowledge about skin cancer (4 items). Finally, 5 items assessed tanning proclivity over the past month, 2 of which assessed behavior and 3 items assessed attitudes.…”