Background: Crime prevention programs implemented to improve students’ personal safety skills and avoid harm from crime have been introduced in Japan and many other countries. In Japan, in most cases, teachers themselves conduct crime prevention programs. For this reason, teachers’ perceptions of actual conditions and challenges of crime prevention programs in their schools are closely tied to the provision of effective training content. However, Japanese teachers’ perceptions related to students’ crime prevention programs have not yet been investigated.

Objective: This study aimed to elucidate Japanese teachers’ perceptions regarding the risk of victimhood for their students and implementation of crime prevention programs in their schools. In addition, this study intended to reveal the influence of the location of the school and teachers’ individual characteristics such as years of teaching experience and positions on the perceptions.

Methods: A questionnaire survey on crime prevention programs was designed to collect data on teachers’ perceptions of their students’ risk of victimhood and on their schools’ crime prevention programs. Additionally, the survey data were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance to determine how school location and teachers’ years of experience were associated with differences in teacher’s perceptions.

Results: The initial sample was 683 teachers working in 26 elementary schools in 7 Japanese prefectures; of these, 50.4% of the teachers (n = 344) participated in the study. The findings demonstrated that teachers have high perception of risk regarding students’ victims of crimes, especially abduction, molestation, and indecent exposure, although that the teachers at schools in rural areas have fewer perceptions of the risk of student victimization, in particular with regard to molestation and online crime, than teachers in other areas. As to the teachers’ perception of the implement of crime prevention programs in their schools, almost 80% of the teachers consider that crime prevention programs are proactively implemented in their schools. However, more than half of teachers feel that it is very or rather necessary to improve these programs for adjusting to the potential for crimes, especially in the teachers with less than 10 years’ experience.

Conclusion: This study revealed that many teachers concerned about students’ risk of being victimized through abduction and molestation, or other crimes. On the other hand, the differences about the perceptions of teachers due to school locations and length of teacher experience were shown. Additionally, the results revealed that the differences regarding the perceptions of schools’ efforts for crime prevention programs depending on the length of teacher experience. These differences should be taken into consideration to upgrade elementary-school teachers’ perceptions of student safety from crimes and to develop crime prevention programs at schools and associated training for teachers.

Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a cause of cervical cancer, is transmitted usually through sexual contact. Males, as well as females, need to gain knowledge about HPV and cervical cancer. However, Japanese schools do not provide cancer prevention education in a systematic and systemic manner.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the short-term efficacy of an educational program to enhance the knowledge and attitude for preventing cervical cancer among male high school students.

Methods: The participants were 83 male first grade students (mean age = 15.7) 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 impact, 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 the knowledge and attitude for preventing cervical cancer.

Results: The rate of work sheet utilization was high in the program. The participants were highly satisfied with the educational materials and the program. Additionally, the scores of knowledge and attitude for preventing cervical cancer: “importance and effect of screening”, and “subjective norms” after the program were higher and statistically significant than those before the program.

Conclusion: This educational program demonstrated a short-term efficacy of enhancing knowledge and attitudes regarding the prevention of cervical cancer among male high school students in Japan.

Background: School health check-ups are annually performed in Japan. However, the practical use of the data has not sufficiently progressed.

Objective: We performed a questionnaire survey to elucidate the general understanding and perceptions of the practical use of school health records in Japanese local municipalities after providing the summary report of the school health check-up records to parents.

Methods: Parents from 7 local municipalities with 49 junior-high schools (N = 4,081) were invited to answer the survey, which comprised the following contents: 1) sociodemographic characteristics, 2) attention toward children’s health and parents’ own health, and 3) practical use of school and integrated health records.

Results: Most parents answered the survey (N = 2,747, 67.3%). Results revealed that 84.7% of the parents had family conversations about the report, 63.1% believed the report improved attention toward child health, 58.5% who did not have a health-checkup annually increased their attention toward their own health, and over 80% agreed to use health records for health promotion and disease prevention.

Conclusion: The summary report can improve attention toward children’s and parents’ health, and the practical use of health records can be approved. Additional studies focusing on parents’ negative opinions toward this process should be elucidated.

Background: More than 70% of Japanese high school students are reported to attend school with feelings of school avoidance (FSA). Appropriate support should be provided for those suffering from a serious conflict between their duty of attending school and negative feelings about it.

Objective: This study aims to investigate FSA in Japanese public high school students during the 3 years of high school and identify the predictive factors of the FSA. Also, to examine effective support methods for teachers and other supporters to help students control FSA and conduct a healthy school life.

Methods: A total of 3,985 10^th grade students among public senior high schools in Nagano Prefecture in Japan agreed to participate in the study. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in June 2010. Follow-up surveys were conducted in June 2011 and June 2012. The questionnaire consisted of the FSA Scale and the questions corresponding to the variables are demographic details, mental health factors, communication and social support factors, and learning and lifestyle factors. Descriptive statistics, repeated measures ANOVA and multiple comparison (Bonferroni test), t-test, and Cox regression analysis were used for analysis.

Results: Valid responses were obtained from 1,578 students. The means for all subscale scores of FSA of 10^th grade students was the lowest. The Cox regression analysis revealed that the following factors showed statistically significant predictors of the FSA: anthropophobic tendency, perceptions of maladjustment in learning settings, experience of mental health problems that needed mental assistance, unsupportive parenting attitudes, having a mobile phone at a younger age, being male, low self-esteem, poorer understanding in the school learning, and experience of being bullied.

Conclusion: It is important for Yogo teachers to be knowledgeable of the anthropophobic tendency in detail and experience of mental health problems that needed mental assistance among students early in 10^th grade, and make use of such information for support; to provide support that help students acquire skills to build personal relationships and adjust in groups, and foster adequate self-esteem; to provide mind care to deal with the experience of being bullied; to listen to students to identify perceptions of maladjustment and anxiety in learning settings; and to provide the parents with opportunities of learning and consultation.