Impact of a Cancer Health Education Curriculum Among Milwaukee Public High School Students

This study implemented a cancer health education curriculum (CHEC) at a Milwaukee public high school with the goal of addressing cancer knowledge, fear and fatalism beliefs, and risk behaviors. The curriculum included interactive learning sessions and a service-learning final project. Five-hundred twenty-one students also completed pre- and post-surveys assessing cancer knowledge, fear and fatalism, risk behaviors, cancer-related communication, and a qualitative question asking what they hoped to gain (pre) or did gain (post) from the course. Results indicate (1) a significant improvement in cancer knowledge (p <  0.0001), (2) a decrease in cancer fear and fatalism (p <  0.0001), (3) an increase in fruit consumption (p <  0.0001), (4) a decrease in screen time (p = 0.0004), and (5) an increase in how often students spoke with their family about cancer (p <  0.0001). Qualitative data reflect important gains such as increased interest in sharing their knowledge about cancer with their community. Providing cancer education and leveraging a service-learning requirement led to notable changes in high school students’ cancer knowledge, fear and fatalism , and risk behaviors. Students also communicated more with family/friends about cancer. Such efforts could have broader implications for student, family, and community cancer burden.
Source: Journal of Cancer Education - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research