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A Cross-sectional Investigation of Cancer-Screening Intentions, Sources of Information, and Understanding of Cancer in Japanese Adolescents

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the cancer-screening intention, sources of cancer information, and cancer understanding among Japanese adolescents. A cross-sectional nationwide survey involving a self-administered questionnaire was conducted. Response rates of the target schools were 46.4 % (n = 103) for junior high schools and 55.8 % (n = 116) for high schools. From these, we analyzed the data of 2960 junior high school students (1520 males, 1440 females) and 3703 high school students (1546 males, 2157 females) to examine the association between cancer-screening intention and sources of cancer-related information and understanding. A significant association between cancer-screening intention and sources of cancer information and cancer understanding was observed. The screening intention group identified more sources of cancer information than the no-screening intention group did. Understanding about cancer was reported by a higher proportion of students in the screening intention group compared with the no-screening intention group. Recognition that healthy people must take part in cancer screening was significantly associated with screening intention in both junior high (odds ratio (OR), 1.859; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 1.582–2.185; P < 0.001) and high school (OR, 2.485; 95 % CI, 2.139–2.887; P < 0.001) students. Health education at school was indicated by a high proportion of students as a source of cancer-related information, although the association was not significant. The present survey indicated that those in of our sample who intended to undergo future cancer screening (67.8 %) had more sources of information and understanding regarding cancer. Thus, schools should enrich health education curricula with more information and understanding about cancer to promote cancer-screening intention among Japanese adolescents.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the staff and students of the participating schools for their help with this study.

Authors’ Contributions

KS, SU, HM, HS, and RM conceived and designed the experiments. KS and SU performed the experiments. KS, SU, and MU analyzed the data. SU, TE, and MW designed the collaborative project. All authors contributed to interpretation of data, wrote, reviewed, and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Sports, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, 1398, Shimamicho, Kita-Ku Niigata-City, Niigata-Prefecture, 950-3198, Japan

    Koshu Sugisaki

  2. Faculty of Liberal Arts, University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo, Shibuya-ku, Japan

    Seiji Ueda

  3. Faculty of Education, Ibaraki University, Mito, Japan

    Masaru Ueji

  4. Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan

    Hirofumi Monobe

  5. Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences, Japan Women’s College of Physical Education, Setagaya-ku, Japan

    Hiroko Yako-Suketomo

  6. The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan

    Takashi Eto

  7. Faculty of Education, Tokyo Gakugei University, Koganei, Japan

    Masaki Watanabe

  8. National Institute for Educational Policy Research, Chiyoda-ku, Japan

    Ryoichi Mori

Authors
  1. Koshu Sugisaki
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  2. Seiji Ueda
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  3. Masaru Ueji
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  4. Hirofumi Monobe
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  5. Hiroko Yako-Suketomo
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  6. Takashi Eto
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  7. Masaki Watanabe
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  8. Ryoichi Mori
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Koshu Sugisaki.

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Competing Interests

The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Financial Disclosure

This study was supported by a Clinical Cancer Research for Health Labour Sciences Research Grant from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan.

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Sugisaki, K., Ueda, S., Ueji, M. et al. A Cross-sectional Investigation of Cancer-Screening Intentions, Sources of Information, and Understanding of Cancer in Japanese Adolescents. J Canc Educ 33, 102–108 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1056-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1056-8

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