Engaging Emerging Leaders in Cancer Control (E2C2)

Background:  Evidence is growing on the value-added impact of youth engagement programs in promoting resiliency and producing positive health outcomes by moderating or avoiding the onset of risk-taking behaviors (Millstein, Nightingale, Petersen, Mortimer, &Hamburg, 1993; Pittman, 1991; Winkleby, 1997). Research suggests that positive outcomes are influenced through complex interactions between the individual, the family, the school, the community, and the field of public health (Link & Phelan, 1995; Macintyre, Maciver, & Sooman, 1993; Syme, 1996). The years after age eighteen provide the context in which young people become increasingly independent from their parents, with post-secondary institutions offering an ideal but largely untapped environment for influencing young adults during this transition period from home to independent living.

Program background:  Focusing on the areas of health communication, social marketing and public health policy, Engaging Emerging Leaders in Cancer Control (E2C2) is a student engagement initiative, currently taking place at five post-secondary institutions in Ontario, Canada. The work is undertaken through a young-adult driven, participatory action approach, building on the power and agency of community members themselves. Participants – referred to as Campus Action Teams (CAT) – were recruited to participate in knowledge transfer events with content experts from the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and other cancer control institutions, to build understanding about cancer prevention, screening and early detection, and design evidence-based interventions for reducing long-term risk and sustaining successful behavioral change. 

Evaluation Methods and Results:  CAT leaders were provided with benchmarking tools to assess the existing institutional and community environment regarding policies and practices that impact five priority areas for intervention: 1) physical fitness and activity, 2) healthy eating, 3) tobacco use/exposure and alcohol misuse, 4) UV exposure 5) HPV vaccination. This analysis yielded campus health situational reports for each site, establishing a snapshot of health benchmarks, including an analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats. Students then engaged in priority setting and campaign development promoting innovative action and leadership for cancer control. The resulting student actions include a campaign at the University of Toronto to develop a Food Charter that articulates a priority on providing students with fresh, nutritious, and locally sourced foods, mobilization at Queens University to support and enhance existing efforts to eliminate tanning beds, and campaigning at Carleton University to ban the sale of tobacco products on campus.

Conclusions:  The major finding and innovation emerging from this work is an overall approach to campus-based health promotion known as the healthy campus movement. This approach is a component of the healthy settings movement, a health promotion strategy that builds on the goal of creating supportive environments for health as outlined in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (WHO, 1986) and the subsequent Jakarta Declaration (1997).  Connecting to and championing the healthy campus movement, E2C2 has focused our activities on promoting action for campus health promotion at both individual and systems levels.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Our ongoing work positions university students as both ambassadors and change agents, with the meta-goals of building broad understandings of health into university organizational culture, and fostering critical   health literacy amongst students, faculty and staff.