Short-Term Efficacy of the Educational Program to Enhance Behavioral Intentions to Prevent Cervical Cancer among Japanese Female High School Students

抄録

Background: Cervical cancer is becoming a repressible disease since females can receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and undergo regular cancer screenings. However, the rates of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening have been low for many years in Japan, which can be attributed to a low level of awareness among the Japanese. Actually, Japanese schools do not practice cancer prevention education in a systematic and systemic manner.

Objective: This study aimed to develop an educational program within the Japanese health curriculum to enhance behavioral intentions to prevent cervical cancer among female high school students and evaluate the educational program’s short-term efficacy by assessing its processes and impact.

Methods: A pre-experimental study design was used. The participants were 95 female first-year students (mean age = 15.8; standard deviation: SD = .42) who participated in the educational program at a prefectural high school in Tohoku region’s Prefecture “A” in Japan. The program consisted of five standard 50-minute learning sessions conducted in a lecture-and-workshop format as part of the school’s health courses.
A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted before and immediately after the program to examine its process and efficacy, and three months after the program to evaluate its short-term efficacy. The process evaluation investigated work sheet utilization, activity status, and satisfaction with educational materials and the program. The impact evaluation examined behavioral intentions and its related components (five components).

Results: The program was completed without difficulty and rate of work sheet utilization was high. The participants were highly satisfied with the educational materials and the program. Additionally, the scores of behavioral intentions showed a statistically significant immediate increase, which was sustained even after three months. All related components of behavioral intentions after the program were statistically significantly higher than those before the program.

Conclusion: The educational program was effective in enhancing short-term behavioral intentions among female high school students in Japan.