Can an hour or two of sun protection education keep the sunburn away? Evaluation of the Environmental Protection Agency's Sunwise School Program

BACKGROUND: Melanoma incidence is rising at a rate faster than any other preventable cancer in the United States. Childhood exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light increases risk for skin cancer as an adult, thus starting positive sun protection habits early may be key to reducing the incidence of this disease. METHODS: The Environmental Protection Agency's SunWise School Program, a national environmental and health education program for sun safety of children in primary and secondary schools (grades K-8), was evaluated with surveys administered to participating students and faculty. RESULTS: Pretests (n = 5,625) and posttests (n = 5,028) were completed by students in 102 schools in 42 states. Significant improvement was noted for the three knowledge variables. Intentions to play in the shade increased from 68% to 75%(p < 0.001) with more modest changes in intentions to use sunscreen. Attitudes regarding healthiness of a tan also decreased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Brief, standardized sun protection education can be efficiently interwoven into existing school curricula, and result in improvements in knowledge and positive intentions for sun protection

A randomised controlled trial of a theory-based intervention to improve sun protective behaviour in adolescents ('you can still be HOT in the shade'): study protocol

Background: Most skin cancers are preventable by encouraging consistent use of sun protective behaviour. In Australia, adolescents have high levels of knowledge and awareness of the risks of skin cancer but exhibit significantly lower sun protection behaviours than adults. There is limited research aimed at understanding why people do or do not engage in sun protective behaviour, and an associated absence of theory-based interventions to improve sun safe behaviour. This paper presents the study protocol for a school-based intervention which aims to improve the sun safe behaviour of adolescents. Methods/design: Approximately 400 adolescents (aged 12-17 years) will be recruited through Queensland, Australia public and private schools and randomized to the intervention (n = 200) or 'wait-list' control group (n = 200). The intervention focuses on encouraging supportive sun protective attitudes and beliefs, fostering perceptions of normative support for sun protection behaviour, and increasing perceptions of control/self-efficacy over using sun protection. It will be delivered during three × one hour sessions over a three week period from a trained facilitator during class time. Data will be collected one week pre-intervention (Time 1), and at one week (Time 2) and four weeks (Time 3) post-intervention. Primary outcomes are intentions to sun protect and sun protection behaviour. Secondary outcomes include attitudes toward performing sun protective behaviours (i.e., attitudes), perceptions of normative support to sun protect (i.e., subjective norms, group norms, and image norms), and perceived control over performing sun protective behaviours (i.e., perceived behavioural control). Discussion: The study will provide valuable information about the effectiveness of the intervention in improving the sun protective behaviour of adolescents

Mechanisms of change in intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy: Systematized review

OBJECTIVE: Despite increasing evidence for the effectiveness of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP), evidence supporting the purported mechanisms of change in ISTDP is lacking. This systematized review aimed to describe the major theorized mechanisms of change in ISTDP, critically evaluate the emerging literature pertaining to its purported mechanisms, and explore directions for future research. METHODS: A systematized search of the literature was conducted by using online databases (PsychInfo, PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL). RESULTS: Fourteen studies met inclusion criteria. The included studies explored at least one theorized ISTDP mechanism of change and attempted to operationalize or otherwise empirically examine the mechanism in relation to the therapeutic process. Examined mechanisms included "unlocking the unconscious" and specific therapist interventions. CONCLUSIONS: The current body of literature has several limitations, most notably the lack of a consensus definition for unlocking the unconscious. This difficulty in measuring mechanisms of change is common across therapeutic modalities and limits the validity and comparability of findings. Despite these limitations, the literature suggests a possible association between theorized mechanisms of change and positive therapy outcomes. Future research directions are discussed.</p

Developing the readiness to alter sun-protective behaviour questionnaire (RASP-B)

Background:\ud Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer of any country in the world, even though the risk of contracting the disease can be lowered considerably by engaging in appropriate sun-protective behaviours. We aimed to construct and validate a questionnaire to assess the readiness of a group of mostly young people to change their levels of sun-protective behaviour by assigning them to a stage of change based on the transtheoretical model of behaviour change.\ud \ud Method:\ud A sample of 122 undergraduate students in Queensland, Australia completed the readiness to alter sun-protective behaviour questionnaire (the RASP-B, a 12-item questionnaire about their attitudes toward sun-protection), in addition to a short questionnaire about their current sun-protective behaviours.\ud \ud Results:\ud A principal component analysis revealed a clear three-factor structure corresponding to the precontemplation, contemplation, and action stages of the transtheoretical model. Participants in the action stage reported engaging in significantly higher levels of sun-protective behaviour than participants in the earlier precontemplation and contemplation stages. These behaviours included avoiding exposure to direct sunlight by wearing long-sleeved clothing and remaining in the shade or indoors. Participants in the different stages reported no significant differences in the reported frequency of sunscreen use, although respondents across all three stages reported using sunscreen infrequently.\ud \ud Conclusion:\ud The RASP-B requires approximately 5 min to complete, can be self-administered and has satisfactory psychometric properties, and thus has utility in primary health care settings where time and client–practitioner contact are often limited

Perry – Deep mapping and emotion in place-writing practice

Cities, Capitalism and the Politics of Sensibilities This book explores the connections between the processes of social structuring and sensibilities in contemporary cities. The transformations of capitalism on a global scale imply reconfigurations both in the way of planning and organizing cities, and in the ways of dwelling and feeling them. The generalization of the urban, the suburbanization of the metropolis, and classified and racializing segregation, just to mention some significant phenomena, not only introduce changes linked to the forms of consumption of the city and the land, the appropriation and privatization of collective places, the strategic revaluation of urban times and spaces, or the establishment of new centralities. They also involve changes in sensibilities, which translate into substantial transformations in the lives of people and groups that dwell in cities in the Global North and South. Based on various empirical records and methodological procedures, the chapters included in this book establish a fertile dialogue between collaborators from different geo-cultural contexts that locate urban experiences and sensibilities as a point of articulation to address the processes of social structuring on a global scale. Chapter Mansfield, C., Shepherd, D., Wassler, P. (2021) Perry-Deep mapping and emotion in place-writing practice Abstract This chapter proposes a preparatory method for researchers and literary travel writers who are planning inquiry into a new urban space, with the French port city of Cherbourg, presented as a case study to illustrate this process. Using theory from Onfray, Bartlett and Patron, and travel writing from Ernaux, Barthes, Mann and Sebald the work develops the research instrument of the hexis for collecting and arranging knowledge discovered during archive searches and literary reading