SAGE Publications, Health Education & Behavior, 3(26), p. 396-408, 1999
DOI: 10.1177/109019819902600309
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The efficacy of a school-based intervention was evaluated using a randomized controlled trial in Australia. In consecutive grades (8, 9, and 10), students in the intervention group received components of a program that addressed issues related to the need to protect yourself from the sun, behavioral strategies related to using sunprotective measures, personal and social images of having a tan, the use of sun-safe clothing, and howto change their schools through forms of structural change. Pre-and postintervention measures among junior high school students showed greatest improvement in the intervention group’s knowledge scores and minimal changes in sun protection behavior from Grade 8 to Grade 9, which were not maintained through Grade 10. Results of the study highlight some limitations of school-based interventions for changing sun protection behaviors.