Research conducted among junior high and high school students shows that adolescents have no idea about neoplastic diseases and their prevention
Unawareness of the youth
The report is based on a survey conducted in 2014 among 1,5 thousand. students from 60 schools: gymnasiums, high schools and technical schools show that more than half of the youth perceive cancer as a tragic, severe, unpredictable disease, and at worst incurable. Students find it difficult to define the concept of malignant neoplasm, the causes of the disease, its symptoms, as well as prevention and treatment methods. They see no connection between lifestyle and the possibility of getting sick. For example, when asked: How do you think cancer can be prevented? They answer: With good intentions and faith, We can become infected even in the air, Thanks to vitamin D17, Cancer is in us from the beginning, but it is not known when it will wake up. – The results of the report are even more disturbing when compared with data on cancer incidence and its prevention. 70% of smokers start smoking before the age of 18. Over 20% of junior high school students in Poland are addicted to smoking, and it is estimated that half of them will die prematurely of tobacco-related diseases (including lung cancer). In 2010, the incidence of cervical cancer in Poland was about 15% than the EU average, and the mortality rate from this cancer in Poland is 70% higher than the EU average. In Poland, there are 3000 cases of melanoma every year, and 80% of patients die of this disease. The number of cases of melanoma in Poland doubles every 10 years – explained prof. dr hab. Jacek Jassem, president of the Polish Oncological Society during the conference entitled Rako Defense. The best time to act is NOW!
Prevention through education
To change this state of affairs, the Rosa Foundation (commissioned by the report) and the Dum Spiro-Spiro Oncology Foundation are launching a nationwide educational campaign aimed at junior high school and high school students. Its aim is to examine the state of knowledge about three types of cancer: lung cancer, cervical cancer and melanoma, and to educate adolescents in cancer prevention. The organizers want to reach young people through their language. Rakoobrona’s action is divided into two stages. The first of them, lasting from April to the end of August 2014, includes, among others, research (questionnaires, focus studies) on oncological prevention among young people, acquiring patrons and partners of the campaign, activity in social media and the Internet, and presence at summer mass events. In the second stage, from September 2014 to the end of January 2015, the program will focus on sharing knowledge on the prevention of cervical cancer, lung cancer and melanoma. The schools that join the program will screen a documentary titled Game with Cancer, showing the struggle with cancer of three different people. One of the protagonists is Katarzyna Markiewicz, a singer known from the program The Voice of Poland, who unfortunately lost her fight with the disease three months ago. -We show real stories of people, we appeal to imagination, we show youth idols in the fight against disease. Only by emotionally engaging young people, talking about suffering, death, and how much the prospect of death changes the optics, can we reach young people with the message of the program – says Magdalena Kźdzkowska, president of the Dum Spiro-Spero Oncology Foundation. As part of the educational and information activities for students and schools, a competition will also be organized, for the winners of which there will be prizes. Special teaching guides have been prepared for teachers, and leaflets for students.
If we take into account the answers of young people who, when asked about the symptoms of melanoma, answer: It is a mole, A ball under the skin, You have black feet, The skin is falling off, and the cause of lung cancer is: too frequent smoking, radiation from the phone, untreated pneumonia or passive coffee drinking, the conclusion is that it is high time to find an antidote to this lack of knowledge. The more that, as emphasized by prof. I am about 70 percent. cancer is related to lifestyle and diet, so we have a very big influence on whether we get sick. – In the minds of young people the simplest association – cancer = defense. We chose the slogan: The best time to act is NOW! Because proper shaping of pro-health habits in adolescents minimizes the risk of dangerous oncological diseases in the future, argues Mariusz Bober, president of the Rosa Foundation.
The report also shows that a large proportion of students assume that the less they think about a disease, the less likely they are to get sick. To warn them against underestimating the problem of cancer, the president of Dum Spiro-Spero tells the touching story of his family: – My grandfather was a soldier of the Home Army. During the war, he was tortured by the Gestapo to such an extent that, as a result of the beatings, he partially lost his eyesight. After the war, he started a family and happily raised two children. For many years, basically until the end, he smoked cigarettes. He fell ill with lung cancer and died in such suffering that – choking – confessed that if he knew how cruel his death would meet him, he would prefer to die then, to the Gestapo. These words will stay in my memory forever.
Let us hope that young people will be mature enough to understand the importance of the matter, and at the same time young enough that their actions will prove effective.
Text: Emilia Kunikowska