TY - JOUR
T1 - School Sun-Protection Policies
T2 - Measure Development and Assessments in 2 Regions of the United States
AU - Reynolds, Kim D.
AU - Buller, David B.
AU - French, Simone A.
AU - Buller, Mary K.
AU - Ashley, Jeff L.
PY - 2012/11
Y1 - 2012/11
N2 - Background: In 2002, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that schools adopt policies that reduce exposure of children to ultraviolet radiation to prevent skin cancer. We report here the development of a school sun-safety policy measure and baseline descriptive statistics from the assessment of written policies collected in 2005-2007 from public school districts that enrolled in a randomized trial evaluating a policy promotion program. METHODS: Written policies were collected from 103 of 112 school districts in Colorado and Southern California prior to randomization. We developed methods for selecting policy headings/sections topics likely to contain sun-safety policies for students and for assessing the presence, strength, and intent of policies. Trained coders assessed the content of each policy document. RESULTS: Overall, 31% of districts had a policy addressing sun safety, most commonly, protective clothing, hats, sunscreen, and education at baseline. More California districts (51.9%) had these policies than Colorado districts (7.8%, p < .001). Policy scores were highest in districts with fewer Caucasian students (b = -0.02, p = .022) in Colorado (b = -0.02, p = .007) but not California (b = 0.01, p = .299). CONCLUSION: The protocol for assessing sun-safety policy in board-approved written policy documents had several advantages over surveys of school officials. Sun-protection policies were uncommon and limited in scope in 2005-2007. California has been more active at legislating school policy than Colorado. School district policies remain a largely untapped method for promoting the sun protection of children.
AB - Background: In 2002, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that schools adopt policies that reduce exposure of children to ultraviolet radiation to prevent skin cancer. We report here the development of a school sun-safety policy measure and baseline descriptive statistics from the assessment of written policies collected in 2005-2007 from public school districts that enrolled in a randomized trial evaluating a policy promotion program. METHODS: Written policies were collected from 103 of 112 school districts in Colorado and Southern California prior to randomization. We developed methods for selecting policy headings/sections topics likely to contain sun-safety policies for students and for assessing the presence, strength, and intent of policies. Trained coders assessed the content of each policy document. RESULTS: Overall, 31% of districts had a policy addressing sun safety, most commonly, protective clothing, hats, sunscreen, and education at baseline. More California districts (51.9%) had these policies than Colorado districts (7.8%, p < .001). Policy scores were highest in districts with fewer Caucasian students (b = -0.02, p = .022) in Colorado (b = -0.02, p = .007) but not California (b = 0.01, p = .299). CONCLUSION: The protocol for assessing sun-safety policy in board-approved written policy documents had several advantages over surveys of school officials. Sun-protection policies were uncommon and limited in scope in 2005-2007. California has been more active at legislating school policy than Colorado. School district policies remain a largely untapped method for promoting the sun protection of children.
KW - Measurement
KW - Policy
KW - Students
KW - Sun safety
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84867452657&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84867452657&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2012.00729.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2012.00729.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 23061553
AN - SCOPUS:84867452657
SN - 0022-4391
VL - 82
SP - 499
EP - 507
JO - Journal of School Health
JF - Journal of School Health
IS - 11
ER -