Objectives
Primary prevention of cancer through behaviour changes in adolescence – a critical period in which many risk behaviours are initiated –, is a huge health and societal challenge in Europe. In alignment with this need, SUNRISE will co-create, implement and evaluate an innovative digitally-enhanced life-skills programme for primary prevention of cancer through sustainable health behaviour change in adolescents, tailored to their socio-economic, cultural and environmental diversities. SUNRISE will combine an established, evidence-based digital solution for smoking prevention, with novel intervention approaches such as peer social media campaigns, advertising literacy training, educational games, and social robot platforms, to take cancer prevention approaches for adolescents in the EU to the next level.
The digitally-enhanced programme and its components will be developed through co-creation with schools-as-living-labs methods involving multiple societal actors such as educators, adolescents, parents, public health experts, and policy-makers. The programme will be implemented and evaluated at large scale across 154 schools and 7500 students in urban and rural regions of 8 European countries – Greece, Switzerland, Slovenia, Spain, Cyprus, Italy, Belgium, Romania -, including socially disadvantaged groups such as migrants and ethnic minorities. The effectiveness of both methods for achieving long-term health behaviour change, as well as the implementation strategy for solution adoption and multi-country sustainability, will be evaluated.
This action is part of the Cancer Mission cluster of projects on “Prevention & early detection (behavioural change)“.
Work Packages
WP1: School-based programme co-creation for primary prevention of cancer through sustainable health behaviour change
Objectives:
(O1.1) Understand the personal, environmental and socio-economic risk factors which impact on the sustainability of health behaviour changes for adolescents in the participating countries.
(O1.2) Identify easy to implement and adopt cancer prevention pathways for adolescents at schools.
(O1.3) Reach consensus multi-stakeholder requirements for the cancer prevention programme involving novel digital tools.
(O1.4) Conduct feasibility, data protection impact, and risk assessments of the cancer prevention programme.
(O1.5) Identify successful tools, social media campaign designs and persuasion approaches for sustainably impacting on health behaviours through school-as-a-living-lab research activities.
(O1.6) Provide iterative versions of the cancer programme design according to evolving needs.
WP2: Sustainable implementation of cancer prevention programme enhanced with digital tools
Objectives:
(O2.1) Raise consistent awareness of cancer prevention behaviours and strategies already established worldwide and
identify key interventions with proven results.
(O2.2) Continuously identify obstacles, barriers and facilitators that need to be considered for enhanced primary cancer
prevention in participating countries.
(O2.3) Focus on multi-cultural sustainability for health behaviour change based on incentives.
(O2.4) Explore best practices and results on digital tools already established for behavioural change.
WP3: Development of life-skills intervention based on novel digital tools
Objectives:
(O3.1) Improve, tailor, and scale-up for use in the participating countries the evidence-based ISGF SmartCoach lifeskills intervention for smoking prevention.
(O3.2) Develop a novel social media influencer campaign for promotion of changes to diet behaviours.
(O3.3) Extend the OCARIoT platform for promotion of ECAC through interactions with a social robot.
(O3.4) Extend educational gaming platforms for advertising and health literacy training.
(O3.5) Develop an interactive health education module for adolescents, families, and educators based on synthesis of health education packages and food marketing education .
(O3.6) Develop a tailored digital platform with authoring and monitoring tools for educators and health experts.
WP4: Implementation study activities
Objectives:
(O4.1) Complete the protocol for the implementation study in 154 schools and 7500 students in the participating countries (Greece, Switzerland, Slovenia, Romania, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Cyprus) for acquisition of ethical approval.
(O4.2) Train educators and public health experts on the implementation of the life-skills intervention, as well as the authoring and monitoring tools of the digital platform.
(O4.3) Provide continuous support to implementers and deliver updates to intervention and digital tools when required.
WP5: Evaluation of outcomes
Objectives:
(O5.1) Conduct statistical analysis for individual outcomes on change attitudes and their sustainability.
(O5.2) Conduct separate analyses and socio-behavioural studies for vulnerable groups including ethnic minorities and migrants, as well as rural and urban populations.
(O5.3) Conduct statistical analysis for implementation strategy outcomes.
(O5.4) Conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis and develop 1) a model to predict the long-term health and economic outcomes of the intervention, 2) a model for social value creation.
WP6: Dissemination, exploitation and health technology assessment
Objectives:
(O6.1) Continuously disseminate and communicate the project and its results to public health, research, and industrial stakeholders, policy-makers, as well as to the wider public.
(O6.2) Organise scientific workshops and other outreach events throughout the duration of the project.
(O6.3) Manage IPRs and perform exploitation planning and implementation.
(O6.4) Create synergies with other initiatives in the field of cancer prevention and engage external policy-makers.
WP7: Project Management
Objectives:
(O7.1) Monitor the successful implementation of research activities (WP1-WP6) within the agreed time, costs and quality metrics, with continuous management of risks and corrective actions.
(O7.2) Coordinate and manage all administrative, financial and contractual aspects related to the project.
(O7.3) Establish and maintain a live Data Management Plan (DMP) throughout the project.
Impact
Sustainable interventions and healthy behaviors for adolescent primary prevention of cancer with digital tools.
Primary Prevention of Cancer
The ambition of SUNRISE is to develop and implement a novel cost-effective and mass-reach digitally-enhanced programme for primary prevention of cancer in adolescence.
The primary goal of SUNRISE will be to provide a highly engaging digital programme for adolescents which will train their life-skills, and strengthen their abilities to take control over their health behaviours and maintain lifelong health.
Motivation for health behaviour change
SUNRISE is based on novel and highly interactive technologies to provide a greatly engaging platform.
The technologies build upon the evidence-based SmartCoach digital messaging solution for prevention of smoking, peer social media campaigns for promotion of healthy diets, health literacy and advertisement literacy digital education packages, as well as educational games and social robots for improved cancer literacy and motivation for health behaviour change.
Sustained health behaviour adoption
Multi-cultural incentives for sustained health behaviour adoption and avoidance of unhealthy lapses will be an important line of research.
SUNRISE incentives will move into 4 directions: a) Tailoring of intervention according to cultural specificities (at a country, region, or school level) and needs for its easy adoption and acceptance in the different regions, b) role modelling and social influencing methods with focus on peer influence, c) positive reinforcement of adolescents through goal-setting, and d) motivation, support and life-long training of the implementers, i.e. educators and health experts.
Sustainable interventions and healthy behaviors for adolescent primary prevention of cancer with digital tools.