The Japanese Association of School Health

Original Article

ISSN ONLINE : 1880-2400

[School Health Vol.21, 14-24, 2025]

Learning Content Acquired by Middle School Students through Cancer Education Provided by Cancer Survivors: Among Different Types of Learning

Yoshino Hosokawa*, Aya Miyoshi**, Makiko Noda** and Hiroko Yako-Suketomo***

  • *Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences, Toyo University,
  • 1-7-11 Akabanedai, Kita, Tokyo 115-8650 Japan
  • hosokawa@toyo.jp
  • **Nonprofit organization Cancer Support Kagoshima,
  • 3-1-7 Shimoishiki, Kagoshima, Kagoshima 890-8511 Japan
  • ***Faculty of Physical Education, Japan Women’s College of Physical Education,
  • 8-19-1 Kita-Karasuyama, Setagaya, Tokyo 157-8565 Japan

[Received December 4, 2024; Accepted March 27, 2025]

Keywords:
cancer education, life education, cancer stigma, student, text mining

Free PDF

Abstracts

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.

References

  • 1) Center for Cancer Control and Information Services, National Cancer Center, Japan: Cancer registry and statistics. 2019. Available at: http://ganjoho.jp/reg_stat/statistics/stat/summary. html. Accessed August 28, 2024 (in Japanese)
  • 2) Must A, Jacques PF, Dallal GE et al.: Long-term morbidity and mortality of overweight adolescents. A follow-up of the Harvard Growth Study of 1922 to 1935. The New England Journal of Medicine 327: 1350-1355, 1992
  • 3) Vineis P, Airoldi L, Veglia F et al.: Environmental tobacco smoke and risk of respiratory cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in former smokers and never smokers in the EPIC prospective study. BMJ 330: 277, 2005
  • 4) Weihrauch-Blüher S, Schwarz P, Klusmann JH: Childhood obesity: increased risk for cardiometabolic disease and cancer in adulthood. Metabolism 92: 147-152, 2019
  • 5) Grant-Alfieri A, Burke K, Zeinomar N et al.: Cancer education interventions in adolescents: A systematic review of scope and content. Health Education & Behavior 49: 993-1003, 2022
  • 6) Suzuki K, Yamanaka M, Minamiguchi Y et al.: Details of cancer education programs for adolescents and young adults and their effectiveness: A scoping review. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology 12: 9-33, 2023
  • 7) Ampofo AG, Boyes AW, Khumalo PG et al.: Improving knowledge, attitudes, and uptake of cervical cancer prevention among female students: A systematic review and meta-analysis of school-based health education. Gynecologic Oncology 164: 675-690, 2022
  • 8) Reyes-Marcelino G, Wang R, Gultekin S et al.: School-based interventions to improve sun-safe knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review. Preventive Medicine 146: 106459, 2021
  • 9) Kyle RG, Forbat L, Rauchhaus P et al.: Increased cancer awareness among British adolescents after a school-based educational intervention: A controlled before-and-after study with 6-month follow-up. BMC Public Health 13: 190, 2013
  • 10) Hubbard G, Stoddart I, Forbat L et al.: School-based brief psycho-educational intervention to raise adolescent cancer awareness and address barriers to medical help-seeking about cancer: A cluster randomised controlled trial. Psychooncology 25: 760-771, 2016
  • 11) Kye SY, Hwang SY, Oh KH et al.: Effects of a cancer prevention education program on elementary school students’ knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, and intentions in South Korea. Epidemiology and Health 41: e2019027, 2019
  • 12) Sugisaki K, Ueda S, Yako-Suketomo H et al.: Cancer awareness and understanding of students in Japan: What do students having close relatives with cancer think about the disease?. Journal of Cancer Education 36: 92-99, 2021
  • 13) Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare: Basic plan to promote cancer control programs (second). 2012. Available at: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/bunya/kenkou/dl/gan_keikaku02.pdf. Accessed August 28, 2024 (in Japanese)
  • 14) Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology Japan: Cancer education. 2015. Available at: http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/kenko/hoken/1370005.htm. Accessed August 28, 2024 (in Japanese)
  • 15) Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology Japan: Junior high school teacher guide for course of study. Health and physical education. 2017. Available at: http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2017/07/25/1387018_8_1.pdf. Accessed August 28, 2024 (in Japanese)
  • 16) Visser A, Huizinga GA, van der Graaf WT et al.: The impact of parental cancer on children and the family: A review of the literature. Cancer Treatment Reviews 30: 683-694, 2004
  • 17) Inoue I, Higashi T, Iwamoto M et al.: A national profile of the impact of parental cancer on their children in Japan. Cancer Epidemiology 39: 838-841, 2015
  • 18) Yako-Suketomo H, Katanoda K, Kawamura Y et al.: Children’s knowledge of cancer prevention and perceptions of cancer patients: Comparison before and after cancer education with the presence of visiting lecturer-guided class. Journal of Cancer Education 34: 1059-1066, 2019
  • 19) Teruya N, Kubagawa M, Maeda Y et al.: Children’s perception of cancer and survivors after a cancer education program engaging with survivors: A qualitative study. International Journal of School Health 9: 232-240, 2022
  • 20) Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology Japan: Cancer education. 2022. Available at: https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/kenko/hoken/mext_01944.html. Accessed August 28, 2024 (in Japanese)
  • 21) Yako-Suketomo H, Kawamura Y, Kubota M: Cancer education in the school setting for upper grade pupils–a consideration of relevancy to school subjects and teacher attitudes toward cancer education–. Japanese Journal of School Health 4: 250-259, 2012 (in Japanese)
  • 22) Glass GV, Smith ML: Meta-analysis of research on class size and achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 1: 2-16, 1979
  • 23) Higuchi K: Quantitative text analysis for social researchers: A contribution to content analysis. Nakanishiya Publishers, 2020
  • 24) Cioban S, Lazăr AR, Bacter C et al.: Adolescent deviance and cyber-deviance. A systematic literature review. Frontiers in Psychology 12: 748006, 2021
  • 25) Natsukari I, Higuchi M, Tsujimoto T: How do patients and families evaluate attitude of psychiatrists in Japan?: Quantitative content analysis of open-ended items of patient responses from a large-scale questionnaire survey. BMC Psychiatry 23: 253, 2023
  • 26) Schenkel, M: Health emergencies, science contrarianism and populism: A scoping review. Social Science & Medicine 346: 116691, 2024
  • 27) Higuchi K: KH Coder 3 Reference Manual. 2016. Available at: https://khcoder.net/en/manual_en_v3.pdf. Accessed August 28, 2024
  • 28) Fujisawa D, Hagiwara N: Cancer stigma and its health onsequences. Current Breast Cancer Reports 7: 143-150, 2015
  • 29) Shim S, Kang D, Bae KR et al.: Association between cancer stigma and job loss among cancer survivors. Psychooncology 30: 1347-1355, 2021
  • 30) Ueda S, Sugisaki K, Monobe H et al.: Actual status of cancer awareness among Japanese school students. Japanese Journal of School Health 56: 185-198, 2014 (in Japanese)
  • 31) Yoshida K, Matsui Y: A pilot study for the development and evaluation of an educational program to reduce stigma toward cancer and cancer survivors: Focusing on dating and marriage after cancer diagnosis. Journal of Cancer Education 37: 806-811, 2022
  • 32) Bufalini CM, Kraschnewski JL, Riley TD et al.: Stories to prevent cancer: a pilot study using cancer survivor narratives to increase human papillomavirus vaccine intentions. Cancer Control 31: 10732748241237328, 2024
  • 33) Soto-Perez-de-Celis E, Smith DD, Rojo-Castillo MP et al.: Implementation of a school-based educational program to increase breast cancer awareness and promote intergenerational transmission of knowledge in a rural Mexican community. Oncologist 22: 1249-1256, 2017
  • 34) Poudel K, Sumi N, Yano R: Impact of peer-led cancer education program on knowledge, health beliefs, practice, and self-esteem among pairs of Nepalese high-school students and their knowledge-sharing partners. Healthcare (Basel) 9: 64, 2021
  • 35) Kawamura Y, Yako-Suketomo H, Katanoda K: Development and evaluation of a cancer education material for schoolaged children: implications for cancer education. Kumamoto University policy research 1: 69-84, 2010 (in Japanese)
  • 36) Flood T, McLaughlin DM, Wilson DI et al.: An exploration of teacher and school-based nurse perceptions of current HPV education offered to students 15-16 years old in post-primary schools in Northern Ireland, UK. PLoS One 19: e0311651, 2024
  • 37) Peterson SE, Miller JA: Comparing the quality of students’experiences during cooperative learning and large-group instruction. The Journal of Educational Research 97: 123-134, 2004

▲ Go to top of page