An Appearance-Based Intervention to Reduce Teen Skin Cancer Risk

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Skin Cancer
• Interventions: Behavioral: Appearance-Focused Website Intervention; Behavioral: Control Website

• Registration Number: NCT01508013
• Lead Sponsor: East Tennessee State University

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a skin cancer prevention website is effective at reduce female teenagers' desire to use indoor tanning and ultimately their use of indoor tanning over an 18 month period.

Detailed Description

The project is designed to improve the understanding of, and ability to affect UV risk behavior in teenage populations. The International Agency for Research in Cancer classifies indoor tanning as "carcinogenic to humans." There is evidence that female indoor tanning use increases dramatically from freshman to senior years of high school (e.g., 25-40% of older high school girls) making high school a critical time period for anti-tanning interventions to be carried out. This proposal assesses the effectiveness of a skin cancer prevention website for a nationally representative sample of high school teens in a randomized controlled trial. Teens exposed to the website will report reduced indoor tanning intentions, frequency and overall percentage of users while increasing sun protective behaviors at long-term (i.e 18 month) follow-up.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2011-05
• Study First Submitted: 2012-01-09
• Study First Submitted QC: 2012-01-09
• Study First Posted: 2012-01-11
• Primary Completion: 2014-05
• Study Completion: 2014-12
• Results First Submitted: 2016-01-21
• Status Verified: 2016-04
• Results First Submitted QC: 2016-04-26
• Last Update Submitted: 2016-04-26
• Results First Posted: 2016-06-02
• Last Update Posted: 2016-06-02

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 443

Inclusion Criteria

• Teenager between 12 and 18 years old; has either indoor tanned in the past year or has indicated their intentions to indoor tan in the coming year.

Exclusion Criteria

• None other than not meeting inclusion criteria.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Appearance-Focused Website Intervention	Appearance-Focused Website Intervention	This is a Internet-based appearance-focused prevention intervention based on the Behavioral Alternatives Model.
Control Website	Control Website	Control participants viewed an Internet site designed to provide drug and alcohol education for teens.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Indoor Tanning Behavior	12 months	Self-report measure of the number of times the teenager has indoor tanned over 12 month time period. The self-report measure has been validated in previous studies.
Indoor Tanning Intentions	12 months	A validated measure of the teenagers intentions to use indoor tanning in the next 12 months. Indoor tanning intentions are measured on a scale that ranges from 1 (definitely do not intend to indoor tan; better) to 7 (definitely do intend to indoor tan; worse).
Indoor Tanning Willingness	12 months	Scale that measures adolescents willingness to indoor tan in the future. Indoor tanning willingness is measured on a scale that ranges from 1 (definitely not willing; better) to 7 (definitely willing; worse).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

East Tennessee State University; 🇺🇸 Johnson City, Tennessee, United States