Report
A survey of sun protection policy and education in secondary schools

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2005.11.1030Get rights and content

Background

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued recommendations for school programs to reduce skin cancer.

Objective

Personnel at US secondary schools were surveyed to describe sun protection policy and education before the CDC recommendations.

Methods

School principals or other personnel at 484 secondary schools in 27 cities responded to a telephone survey in January and February 2002 (response rate = 31%).

Results

A sun protection policy was reported at 10% of the schools, but sun protection education occurred at nearly all schools (96%). Policies were more prevalent in regions with high ultraviolet radiation (P < .0001), but education was not. Many personnel were willing to adopt a policy (41%) and interested in obtaining a sun safety curriculum (96%).

Limitations

Self-report measures, nonresponse, and new schools not in the sampling frame.

Conclusion

Sun protection was a low policy priority for US schools. Sun safety education was prevalent, but written materials were used infrequently. A substantial proportion of school personnel were receptive to the CDC's advice.

Section snippets

Participants

A sample of 1591 public secondary schools in 27 metropolitan areas in the United States in 2002 was selected at random from a list of schools obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). To be eligible, schools had to contain at least 1 grade in the range from grades 7 through 12. The cities were the same as those selected for the survey of elementary schools in 1998 to allow comparison. They were chosen from the 58 US cities regularly reporting the UV Index in 1997 in

Profile of schools

On average, each school enrolled over 1000 students, which was higher than the national average (795 students) in 2000-2001.4 Respondents overrepresented senior high schools (15% of schools contained grades 7-8 or 7-9, and 63% grades 9-12 or 10-12 in 2000-2001 nationwide).4 The respondents' schools had a majority of non-Hispanic white students, with sizable minorities of African American and Hispanic students. About 1 in 3 schools were located in regions with high UVR intensity (UV Index range,

Sun protection policy

In 2002, only a minority of secondary schools in the United States had sun protection policies, although this was slightly higher than the proportion of elementary schools nationwide with such a policy in 1998 or in Hawaii in 2002.2, 3 Sun protection policies still appear to be a relatively low priority for school personnel. Greater public awareness of the dangers of overexposure to the sun; forums to educate school principals, other administrators, and teachers on the CDC's guidelines for

Conclusion

The CDC has concluded that sun protection policy and education at schools is an important piece of community-wide sun protection efforts.1 But schools are only one of several potentially effective venues in any community for promoting sun safety for children. Moreover, schools face constant cross-pressures on their policies and curriculum that may make skin cancer prevention a low priority. As children progress through secondary school, the amount of time they spend outdoors appears to decline,

References (12)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (21)

  • Rationale, design, and baseline data of a cross-national randomized trial on the effect of built shade in public parks for sun protection

    2017, Contemporary Clinical Trials
    Citation Excerpt :

    In the end, the trial results will have important implications for governments, planners, architects, landscapers and private organizations considering environmental strategies to improve sun safety. A number of childcare centers [106,107] and schools and swimming pools in Australia [108–110]and the United States [111–113] have policies that encourage increasing shade and considerable funds have been invested in shade-sails in childcare centers' playgrounds and over outdoor toddler pools in Melbourne [110] and in public parks in Victoria. However, such investment is usually not trivial, with the average cost of building each shade sail in this trial exceeding $15,000 (in both currencies).

  • Sun protection practices in New Zealand secondary schools: A 2014 baseline study

    2016, Preventive Medicine Reports
    Citation Excerpt :

    In a US survey, 79% of metropolitan secondary schools reported being “interested in obtaining” “A sun protection curriculum designed specifically for secondary school grades.” ( Buller et al., 2006). The limited information reported for secondary schools (in contrast to that available for primary schools) and use of diverse criteria (as well as different risk levels), make valid international comparisons difficult.

  • Motivating public school districts to adopt sun protection policies: A randomized controlled trial

    2011, American Journal of Preventive Medicine
    Citation Excerpt :

    Districts may have hesitated to codify protective clothing and hats into policy because they are less commonly used than sunscreen,11,48 may interfere with dress code policies on display of gang colors,49,50 and may raise concerns about head lice transmission.51 Districts may have been reluctant to alter school schedules to avoid disrupting school day management, as implied by surveys with principals.7,28 Several circumstances may have undermined the effectiveness of Sun Safe Schools.

  • Skin sun-acne tutorial evaluation among middle- and high-school students in central New Jersey

    2007, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
    Citation Excerpt :

    Given the simple and effective nature of SkinSAT, it is conceivable that this program be implemented nationwide for teachers and volunteers to instruct adolescents about acne and sun protection. This program seems timely considering a recent poll of 484 school principals and other personnel that revealed that 96% of those surveyed were “interested in obtaining a sun safety curriculum.”16 Educators may select whether to use the SkinSAT PowerPoint slides alone or coupled with the hands-on activities.

  • The epidemiology of sunburn in the US population in 2003

    2006, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
    Citation Excerpt :

    In a study of respondents to the 1999 BRFSS, the sunburn prevalence (at least one sunburn in the past year) was reported to be 31.7%.22 Our finding of 39% sunburn prevalence demonstrates a 22% increase in the prevalence of sunburn in the 4 years since the 1999 BRFSS study, despite enhanced education efforts.23-26 The finding that sunburn prevalence was highest among the youngest age group (61% in 18- to 24-year-olds) is comparable to those findings of studies investigating sunburn prevalence among adolescents and sun exposure in large populations.27,28

View all citing articles on Scopus

Funding sources: Supported by a Grant Number CA79701 from the National Cancer Institute. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute.

Conflict of interest: The authors of this manuscript produced the Sunny Days, Healthy Ways sun safety curriculum for grades 6 through 8. Dr Buller is employed by, and Ms Buller is an owner of, Klein Buendel, Inc, which intends to market this curriculum to schools. Dr Reynolds currently works with Klein Buendel, Inc, on another sun safety project through a subcontract from Klein Buendel to the University of Southern California.

View full text