Let’s talk about (cancer) prevention
In May 2024, two focus groups were conducted at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies to explore young people’s perceptions of health education and cancer prevention. These discussions aimed to assess students’ awareness of health-related topics, their views on introducing health education in primary and secondary schools, and their attitudes toward cancer prevention specifically. The findings reveal a mix of curiosity, skepticism, and emotional distance from the subject of cancer, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities in engaging younger generations with preventive health messages.
Objectives:
1. To identify if young generation is aware about health education
2. If they think that health education should be provided in the school (primary/secondaryschool)
3. What is their opinion about (cancer) prevention
Overall findings
- Students have limited awareness about health education in general, and large part of their knowledge is not coming from school. Family, social media, friends are those who are the main sources for information.
- Mostly, the information they have about cancer is coming from personal experiences (family member who have been affected by the disease, friends etc.)
- Discussing about cancer prevention proved to be a sensitive topic. Cancer was perceived as a sort of condemnation for some and something that is not very common among youngers, therefore the disease looked to be far away from them. The discussion was moved from cancer prevention to prevention in general, due to some discomfort showed by some participants and the lack of interest displayed by others (body language, reluctant attitude and no desire to engage in conversation on this topic).
- Although they seemed to have a certain awareness about risk factors to health (in general), they also seemed to have a relaxed attitude towards taking these factors seriously. A remark of a young male student “life is short anyway, I prefer living a short and enjoyable life, than a long and a boring one”
- They agree about the importance of risk factors (smoking, alcohol, obesity), and almost all of them agree that smoking is dangerous for health (there were comments about the fact that new tobacco products are not dangerous, at least not so dangerous as cigarettes). However, mostly related to smoking, their attitude doesn’t express a real concern regarding smoking consequences on health and on the question “do you plan to quit of smoking”, smokers responded, yes, someday…Related to alcohol, the attitude was even more relaxed. When new recommendations related to alcohol consumptions were mentioned (a half of glass of wine max per day), some of them commented that this a stupidity and that all the youngers are drinking at parties, and this doesn’t transform them into drunk (effects of long term seem to be an uninteresting topic). Obesity proved to be a delicate topic and we didn’t engage into further discussions about this.
- They agree that school, from primary classes, should have a discipline that discusses major aspects of health. About vaccination, particularly, they mentioned that explanations are necessary (why, benefits, risks).
- They have some curiosities related to “unconventional” way of treating/addressing to diseases (some of them mentioned about the interest of “Big Pharma”)
General information
- There is a need to develop a specific discourse when addressing to young generation on topics that seem to be uncomfortable or seem to be out of their immediate/short term interest (“this topic is not for my age, for my immediate needs”)
- There is a defensive attitude when something may threaten their vision about health, about the way they think their live should be lived
- When designing messages for the younger generation, it’s important to consider the complexity of the information landscape they navigate, the channels through which they consume content, and the sources they trust. Traditional media like TV and magazines are largely ignored by this group, who instead rely on opinions from their trusted social circles or “bubbles.”
