Background: In Japan, the Cancer Control Act was enacted in 2006, and cancer education and the dissemination of cancer-related knowledge are among the issues addressed in the Basic Plan to Promote Cancer Control Programs (Phase 4). Cancer education was introduced to all middle schools in 2021, and high schools in 2022. To promote cancer education in schools further, the presence of teachers who are able to play a central role in the cancer education in the schools is the key requirement. School teachers' perceptions of cancer and cancer education may influence cancer education in schools. However, the perceptions regarding cancer and cancer education and related factors of school teachers in Japan have not been clarified.

Objective: This study aims to understand the perceptions of cancer education among school teachers in Japan and identify factors related to these perceptions.

Methods: A web-based anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted with 800 middle and high school teachers in Japan. The questionnaire is comprised of question items on the perceptions of cancer education (9 items; Questions 1 through 7 ask about positive perceptions of cancer education of middle and high school teachers, Questions 8 and 9 ask about its negative perceptions; Question 8: making students anxious or afraid of cancer”; Question 9: no change in the awareness of cancer), the Cancer Awareness Measures (CAM; Warning signs, Barriers to seeking help, Risk factors), personal factors, and environmental factors. The data were analyzed with Multiple logistic regression analysis.

Results: In total 779 responses were included in the analysis. Using the Mann-Whitney U test, age, years of teaching experience, and the scores of CAM positive and negative response groups were compared for the perceptions of cancer education. The relationship between the perceptions of cancer education and personal and environmental factors was analyzed using the chi-square test. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted using age and years of teaching experience, Warning signs, Barriers to seeking help, and Risk factors in the CAM, which were found to be significantly different in these univariate analyses, as independent variables, and the perceptions of cancer education as the dependent variable. Questions 1 through 7 showed statistically significant differences in Warning signs (OR = 1.077 to 1.164, p < .01 to .001) and Risk factors (OR = 1.041 to 1.053, p < .001). There were statistically significant differences in Questions 8 (OR = 1.100, p < .001) and 9 (OR = 1.159, p < .001) for Warning signs.

Conclusions: The findings show that the awareness of Warning signs and Risk factors affect the awareness that students benefit from cancer education, suggesting the necessity the efforts to improve the knowledge and understanding of cancer among teachers to promote cancer education in schools.

Background: Hygiene management of school lunch in Japan is implemented in accordance with the provisions of the School Lunch Law. Until the School Lunch Law was revised in 2008, hygiene management of school lunches was implemented based on the ‘Standards for School Environmental Hygiene’ and "Standards for School Lunch Hygiene Management", school pharmacists have been involved in the hygiene management of school lunches. These also served as activity guidelines for school pharmacists and no longer included information on the sanitation management of school lunches.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the implementation of the new ‘Standards for School Environmental Hygiene’ may have changed the actual status of school pharmacist involvement.

Methods: Using the aggregated results of the 2019 National School Health Survey, we analyzed the involvement of school pharmacists in school lunches from public elementary schools and public junior high schools.

Results: Regarding kitchen type, on-site kitchens in public elementary schools and communal kitchens in public junior high schools were the most common. A high percentage of school pharmacists involved in the hygiene management of school lunches in 2019 had been requested by schools and other entities prior to that time. And they also had experience in conducting inspections.

Conclusions: School pharmacists play important roles in improving the quality of hygiene management in school lunches. To increase their involvement, schools must strengthen cooperation with school pharmacists by calling for their participation in school health committees. Additionally, school pharmacists must appropriately explain the importance of hygiene management in school lunches.

Background: Student suicide rates have been increasing in Japan since 2009, rising sharply in 2022. Schools are crucial sites for intervention in youth suicide; however, little is known about how teachers approach the risk of student suicide.

Objective: This study aimed to understand junior high school teachers’ perceptions of suicide, how they detect signs of suicide in their students, and their resistance to and difficulty in implementing suicide prevention measures. Further, the study also sought to uncover how to support collaboration between junior high school teachers and nursing professionals.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with ten in-service middle school teachers across Japan. Data were analyzed using a qualitative inductive procedure to extract codes, which were then organized into categories and subcategories.

Results: Eight men and two women with a mean age of 44.0 ± 6.6 years participated in the interviews. The analysis revealed 107 codes related to existing suicide prevention measures, organized into four categories (early detection and preventive measures for students at risk, creating an environment conducive to reporting distress, strengthening the cooperation of counseling and support, and improving skills and abilities for suicide prevention); 68 codes related to suicide risk were organized into six categories (behaviors and actions that could lead to suicide, school refusal and bullying should be monitored, unstable family life, poor relationship-building skills, death of someone close, and trivial and unknown omens); and 86 codes related to teachers’ resistance and barriers to suicide prevention measures were organized into four categories (anxiety about dealing with suicide, difficulty with dealing with diverse issues, lack of awareness regarding suicide prevention, and lack of a support system).

Conclusions: The findings suggest that it may be helpful to introduce school consultation opportunities for nurses to reduce teachers’ resistance to suicide prevention education; further, using the nursing profession’s knowledge in mental health and other counseling services to support teachers may be effective.

Background: The Media Control Challenge (MCC) is a ten-day initiative designed to educate and motivate elementary and junior high school students to manage their screen time. However, due to a lack of research on the metrics for interpreting MCC results, it is unclear what points schools should emphasize when providing feedback to students and their parents.

Objective: This study aims to develop a model to predict mid-to-long term screen time using performance metrics from the MCC and to explore how MCC can be effectively utilized in school settings.

Method: A questionnaire survey on current screen time was conducted among families with elementary and junior high school students in a specific region in northern Nagano Prefecture, seven months after the MCC. The survey statistically analyzed the relationship between the average Challenge Level (CL), Achievement Rate (AR), and their product (CL×AR) during the MCC period and the screen time seven months after the MCC.

Results: Among the 92 participants, 40 had screen times exceeding two hours seven months post-MCC. Among the performance metrics, only CL×AR showed a significant negative correlation with screen time after seven months (Spearman's rho = -0.289, P = 0.005, 95% Confidence Interval: -0.471 to -0.083). Even after adjusting for covariates using logistic regression analysis, CL×AR was significantly associated with screen time after seven months (Odds ratio = 0.415, P = 0.003, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.232 to 0.744). The area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) for the predicted probability including CL×AR and covariates was 0.730. The AUC for CL×AR alone was 0.650. The cutoff value that maximizes the Youden index was estimated to be 1.98. At this cutoff, the sensitivity was 46.2% and specificity was 77.5%.

Conclusion: CL×AR remained significantly associated with mid-to-long term screen time even after adjusting for covariates, indicating its potential usefulness as a predictive model. Additionally, based on the ROC curve for CL×AR alone, cutoff values of 1.98 were considered important as a guideline for maintaining appropriate screen time for students. Future studies should develop Japan-specific intervention strategies based on these results and evaluate their effectiveness through practical research.