Empowerment Through Participation in a Cancer Prevention Exhibit: Evidence from the Hygée Lab Intervention

While many countries have launched cancer prevention initiatives to improve the public's understanding of risk and protective factors, few are systematically evaluated. Hygée Lab, a living lab in a socioeconomically deprived area of France, is designed to interactively communicate evidence-based information about cancer prevention and treatment with the goal to improve visitors' understanding of cancer risk and prevention factors, reduce fatalism in regard to cancer, and increase feelings of empowerment. Pre- and post-visit data were collected during the first 18 months of the exhibit's opening from two segments of the population: adolescents from local schools (N = 134) and the general public (N = 112). Adolescents from the same schools who did not participate in the visit comprised the control group (N = 94). A further 232 general public visitors completed post-surveys only. Pre-post-visit comparisons reveal significant changes in both adolescent and general public visitors: cancer understanding improves, fatalism in regard to cancer is reduced, and feelings of empowerment increase. This systematic evaluation of Hygée Lab offers promise for how interactive exhibits may be used for cancer prevention amongst low health literacy populations.