Application of protection motivation theory (PMT) on skin cancer preventive behaviors amongst primary school students in rural areas of Fasa city-Iran

Background Considering that exposure to sunlight in childhood and adolescence has an important role in skin cancer, so it seems that training protective behaviors in this period is more effective. Objectives To survey the application of protection motivation theory (PMT) on skin cancer preventive behaviors among students in rural areas of Fasa city, Iran. Methods This study was done in two stages: Phase I of this study, the descriptive-analytic and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018 to investigate the predictive value of the protection motivation theory on skin cancer preventive behaviors. In the second stage, a quasi-experimental interventional study was conducted on 400 primary school students in 2019. The educational intervention was performed in the experimental group for 8 sessions. Data were collected using a demographic information questionnaire and protection motivation theory before and six months after the intervention. Results The constructs of protection motivation theory predicted 58.6% of skin cancer preventive behaviors. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of knowledge, perceived sensitivity, perceived severity, reward, fear, protection motivation, response efficacy, self-efficacy, response costs, and the skin cancer preventive behaviors in before the intervention ( p > 0.05). However, six months after the intervention, the experimental group showed a significant increase in each of the mentioned constructs and skin cancer protective behaviors ( p < 0.05). Conclusion This study showed the effectiveness of the intervention based on the PMT constructs in adoption of skin cancer preventive behaviors in 6 months’ post intervention in primary school students.