A Quality Improvement Project: Implementing the SunWise Education Program in Middle School Adolescents

A Quality Improvement Project: Implementing the SunWise Education Program in Middle School Adolescents Amanda Merino Specialty Area: Doctor of Nursing Practice, Family Practice Committee Chair: JoAnn Peterson, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC Committee Member: Diane Mahoney, DNP, FNP-BC, WHNP-BC Problem: The most common form of cancer in the United States (U.S.) is skin cancer (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016). Two to three million non-melanoma cancers are diagnosed yearly, while 71,000 cases are diagnosed as melanoma and include a mortality rate of 9,394 deaths yearly (CDC, 2016; World Health Organization [WHO], 2016). In fact, the occurrence of melanoma is rising 2.9% every year in children and adolescents who are less than 20 years old (Davis et al., 2015). With that said, most skin cancers are preventable and are caused by exposure to ultra violet (UV) radiation, with the most prominent source from the sun’s natural rays (Skin Cancer Foundation, 2016). The risk for skin cancer doubles if a single, severe sunburn is experienced in childhood (CDC, 2016). The CDC (2016) reports that only a small percentage of high school students (13% of girls and 7% of boys) apply sunscreen when outside for an hour or more. A call to action to reduce risky sun practices amongst adolescents, Goal 2, strategy 2B, encourages schools, particularly kindergarten through eighth grade (K-8), to incorporate sun safety education in the curriculum (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2014). Project Aim: The aim of this DNP project was to implement the SunWise program which is the first nationally recognized, multidimensional, interactive, sun protection education program that uses evidence-based recommendations to provide middle school adolescents with an increase of sun prevention knowledge needed to change attitude, perceptions and intent to change their current behavior of risky sun practices and overexposure to the sun. The SunWise program specifically targets children and adolescents in primary and ...