Abstract
BackgroundConsidering that exposure to sunlight in childhood and adolescence has an important role in skin cancer, so it seems that training protective behaviors in this period is more effective.ObjectivesTo survey the application of protection motivation theory (PMT) on skin cancer preventive behaviors among students in rural areas of Fasa city, Iran.MethodsThis study was done in two stages: Phase I of this study, the descriptive-analytic and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018 to investigate the predictive value of the protection motivation theory on skin cancer preventive behaviors. In the second stage, a quasi-experimental interventional study was conducted on 400 primary school students in 2019. The educational intervention was performed in the experimental group for 8 sessions. Data were collected using a demographic information questionnaire and protection motivation theory before and six months after the intervention.ResultsThe constructs of protection motivation theory predicted 58.6% of skin cancer preventive behaviors. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of knowledge, perceived sensitivity, perceived severity, reward, fear, protection motivation, response efficacy, self-efficacy, response costs, and the skin cancer preventive behaviors in before the intervention (p > 0.05). However, six months after the intervention, the experimental group showed a significant increase in each of the mentioned constructs and skin cancer protective behaviors (p < 0.05).ConclusionThis study showed the effectiveness of the intervention based on the PMT constructs in adoption of skin cancer preventive behaviors in 6 months’ post intervention in primary school students.
Highlights
Considering that exposure to sunlight in childhood and adolescence has an important role in skin cancer, so it seems that training protective behaviors in this period is more effective
This study showed the effectiveness of the intervention based on the protection motivation theory (PMT) constructs in adoption of skin cancer preventive behaviors in 6 months’ post intervention in primary school students
The results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between the skin cancer preventive behaviors and perceived sensitivity (r = 0.178, p = 0.007), perceived severity (r = 0.124, p = 0.016), protection motivation (r = 0.184, p = 0.004), response efficacy (r = 1.20, p = 0.022), self-efficacy (r = 0.180, p = 0.018), fear (r = 0.144, p = 0.009), and knowledge (r = 0.102, r = 0.037); there was a significant negative relationship between the skin cancer preventive behaviors and rewards (r = −0.126, p = 0.025), and response costs (r = −0.115, and p = 0.016)
Summary
Considering that exposure to sunlight in childhood and adolescence has an important role in skin cancer, so it seems that training protective behaviors in this period is more effective. Skin cancer, is one of the most important human health problems that annually cause many damages and imposes heavy costs on human society. The role of human behaviors in the development of many health disorders including cancer, in particular skin cancer, has been proven. In Iran, due to the high sunlight in most seasons of the year and the lack of suitable coverings such as outdoor clothing and hats, the prevalence of skin cancer is high [5] so that skin cancer is a public health problem in the country [6]. Studies in Iran have shown that cancer is high in society [7]
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