Healthy Habits, Healthy U (HHHU) is program collaboratively built through Boise State, St. Luke’s Mountain Tumor Institute, and the Boise School District (BSD). It is designed as a cost-effective, time-efficient intervention where students learn how their daily health habits relate to the risks of developing cancer. Two of the major positive health habits correlated with reducing the risk of developing cancer are the increase in positive food choices and decreased intake of sugar-sweetened beverage intake (SSB).

During the Fall 2015 semester, 439 of 969 BSD eighth-grade students participated in the short-term outcome evaluation of HHHU using a quasi-experimental design with pretest/posttest surveys. There was a statistically significant difference between participants in the intervention and delayed intervention group on posttest knowledge scores for questions related to nutrition, the intake of SSB and their association with the risk of developing cancer.

This preliminary study indicates that the program is effective in increasing cancer knowledge and how health habits can increase or decrease one’s risk for developing cancer. HHHU should continue to be used as a school-based cancer prevention program.