Creation of the «soludable» sun protection accreditation program for schools

Abstract Introduction Sun exposure during childhood is the main risk factor for skin cancer in later life. School-based sun protection policies and practices have proven to be the most effective and cost-effective strategies for preventing skin cancer. Objective To develop a sun protection accreditation program known as «Soludable» (a play on the Spanish words sol [sun] and saludable [healthy]) to objectively identify schools that actively promote sun protection behaviors among students. Methods The consensus method used was a 2-round Delphi technique with input from a panel of experts. We then calculated the median scores for the importance and feasibility of each of the recommendations proposed and the level of complexity assigned to each recommendation by counting the percentage of experts who chose each difficulty category. Results The resulting accreditation model consists of 14 recommendations with corresponding evaluation criteria divided into 7 domains: 1) organizational leadership (5 recommendations), 2) effective communication (2 recommendations), 3) structural elements (2 recommendations), 4) training of professionals (1 recommendation), 5) school curriculum (1 recommendation),6) behavioral models (2 recommendations), and 7) student habits (1 recommendation). A high level of agreement among experts was observed for all recommendations, in terms of both their perceived importance and feasibility and their categorization by levels of complexity. Conclusions This is the first sun protection accreditation program developed for Spanish schools. Studies are needed to evaluate how this program is received and how it affects students’ sun protection behaviors.