Abstract
Adolescents at schools ought to be easy to reach for dietary cancer prevention programs. Yet, traditional school health education interventions, however, do not affect behavior. We have a developed short‐term (10 hour) program that supports adolescents in adopting a low‐fat, high‐fiber diet. The aim has been achieved by making the classroom activities work as part of a community intervention program and by including elements derived from Bandura's social learning theory and the self‐efficacy construct. Following the theoretical constructs, the students are exposed to peers reporting on appropriate dietary behavior. In order to enhance self‐efficacy, students are given the opportunity to experience successful self‐initiated dietary changes. Thus, they set up an individual dietary goal and carry out changes based on this. A pilot test indicated that the program process works as planned. However, in order to evaluate behavioral effects, further studies are required.
Notes
Department of Social Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Oncology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.