Original Article
Learning Content Acquired by Middle School Students through Cancer Education Provided by Cancer Survivors: Among Different Types of Learning
2025 Volume 21 Pages 14-24
Details
2025 Volume 21 Pages 14-24
Background: School-based cancer education by cancer survivors has been shown to enhance students’ knowledge of cancer prevention and reduce the stigma against cancer patients. Although online education has become more prevalent in schools since the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lack of evidence to determine whether it is as learned as in-person cancer education.
Objective: This study aimed to clarify the characteristics of learning content acquired by middle school students through cancer education provided by cancer survivors according to different types of learning.
Methods: From October 2020 to March 2021, cancer education by cancer survivors was provided to second-year middle school students (N=1,501) in 15 schools in prefectures A and B. Anonymous essays from middle school students who attended class were used as the data. Text mining was conducted using KH Coder software and all analyses were performed separately for face-to-face and online courses.
Results: A total of 873 students were taught face-to-face with cancer patients in their schools, whereas the remaining 628 students were taught online. Essays were collected from 784 students in face-toface courses and 585 in online courses. The results of the co-occurrence network analysis indicated the following three key themes in both face-to-face and online courses: “understand the word that is loaded for death,” “attitude of appreciation for living,” and “acquisition of knowledge about cancer.” A correspondence analysis comparing each class and school assembly identified different characteristics in the descriptions.
Conclusions:This study revealed that cancer education provided by cancer survivors, whether in person or online, might help students develop respect for their own and others’ lives and gain knowledge of cancer. In particular, students who participated in cancer education in each class were more likely to describe their attempts to connect what they had learned to actual actions.
