18 Jul Simple Interventional Program Can Reduce Sunburns in Outdoor Workers
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sonia Duffy, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor, College of Nursing
The Ohio State University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Prior to conducting a tobacco cessation study with Operating Engineers, I conducted a survey of 498 Operating engineer and found that many of them were at risk for sun burning, which can lead to skin cancer. So as a follow up study, I conducted a study to prevent sun burning, which randomized 357 Operating Engineers to were randomized to four interventions: education only; education and text message reminders; education and mailed sunscreen; and education, text message reminders, and mailed sunscreen.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: Overall, the percentage of participants who reported never wearing sunscreen decreased from 38.1 percent at baseline to 21.8 percent at follow-up. All four interventions resulted in significantly increased use of sunscreen, with a marginally significant increase among participants who received only education and text message reminders.
Overall, the percentage of participants who reported burning at least four times during the summer decreased from 18.6 percent at baseline to 5.8 percent at follow-up. Furthermore, the number of reported sunburns decreased significantly across all intervention groups. However, there was no significant difference in reported sunburns among the four interventions in reported sunburns.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: What readers should take away from this report is that a simple educational intervention can significantly improve the use of sun protection behaviors and adding text message reminders and mailed sunscreen can enhance the effect of the educational intervention even further.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?
Response: While this study was conducted on Michigan, our study team is planning a roll another study to roll out the intervention to Operating Engineers nationally. Other outdoor workers such as farmers and landscaping personnel may also benefit from a sun protection intervention.
No disclosures
Citation:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29954736 Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2018 Jun 28. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-17-1023. [Epub ahead of print]
The Sun Solutions Intervention for Operating Engineers: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Duffy SA1,2,3, Hall SV2, Tan A4, Waltje AH5, Cooper SA6, Heckman CJ7.
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Last Updated on July 18, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD