Author(s)

Nadja Seidel^1*, Friederike Stoelzel¹, Sandra Herrmann¹, Cornelia Zimmermann², Hendrik Berth³, Melanie Glausch¹, Kristina Loewe¹, Michael Baumann¹, Gerhard Ehninger¹

¹University Cancer Center, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
²Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
³Department of Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty of the Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany.

At least one third of all newly diagnosed cancers could be prevented if lifestyle factors were changed. The University Cancer Center Dresden initiated two programs aiming at cancer awareness and intentions to engage in health-promoting behavior among children and adolescents. Study 1 examined sun protection knowledge of 80 preschool children in a non-randomized design and Study 2 inspected 235 7th grade students’ knowledge of cancer and its behavioral risk-factors as well as intentions on health-promoting behavior using a randomized pre-post design on group-level. Study 1 showed significant improvement of sun protection knowledge in preschool children (p < 0.05). Study 2 was effective in increasing knowledge about risk factors for cancer (p < 0.001) and in increasing intentions to engage in health-promoting behavior (p < 0.001). Communicating health-related behavior in preschools as well as school-based programs targeting multiple cancer-related risk factors are promising tools for primary prevention of cancer.

Cancer Prevention, Cancer Education, Health Behavior, School-Based Health Promotion, Literacy

Seidel, N. , Stoelzel, F. , Herrmann, S. , Zimmermann, C. , Berth, H. , Glausch, M. , Loewe, K. , Baumann, M. and Ehninger, G. (2016) Cancer: Education and Primary Prevention Starts in Childhood and Adolescence. Journal of Cancer Therapy, 7, 851-856. doi: 10.4236/jct.2016.712084.