Effects of UV Photographs, Photoaging Information, and Use of Sunless Tanning Lotion on Sun Protection Behaviors
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EVIDENCE-BASED DERMATOLOGY: STUDY A cooperative effort of the Clinical Epidemiology Unit of the Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IDI-IRCCS) and the Archives of Dermatology Effects of UV Photographs, Photoaging Information, and Use of Sunless Tanning Lotion on Sun Protection Behaviors Heike I. M. Mahler, PhD; James A. Kulik, PhD; Jody Harrell, MA; Alma Correa, BA; Frederick X. Gibbons, PhD; Meg Gerrard, PhD Objectives: To examine the efficacy of UV photo- intervention plus use of sunless tanning lotion, and a con- graphs and information about photoaging (eg, trol condition. wrinkles and age spots) for increasing the sun protec- tion intentions and behaviors of young adults and to Main Outcome Measures: Participants sun protec- determine whether any effects of this appearance- tion intentions as assessed immediately after the inter- based intervention could be enhanced by providing a vention and sun protection behaviors during the month non-UV alternative for achieving a tan (ie, sunless tan- after the intervention as assessed during a surprise tele- ning lotion). phone follow-up. Design: Randomized control trial with 1-month follow- Results: The intervention resulted in significantly stron- up. ger sun protection intentions (PϽ.001) and greater sun pro- tection behaviors (PϽ.05) relative to controls. Further- Setting: Two universities in Southern California. more, the group that also used sunless tanning lotion tended to engage in greater sun protection behaviors than the group Participants: A volunteer sample of 146 college stu- that received the intervention alone (PϽ.08). dents, 91.1% of whom completed the “surprise” 1-month follow-up. Conclusion: The UV photographic intervention holds promise as a cost-effective approach to motivate prac- Intervention: A UV facial photograph and a brief vid- tices that may ultimately result in health benefits (ie, re- eotape describing the causes and consequences of pho- duced skin cancer rates). toaging. The study tested the effects of the photoaging information/UV photographic intervention only, the Arch Dermatol. 2005;141:373-380 HE INCIDENCE OF NEW SKIN Section Editors cancer cases is increasing at 1 Michael E. Bigby, MD, Beth Israel a rate of 3% to 4% per year, Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard and the incidence of the Medical School, Boston, Mass most deadly form of skin Rosamaria Corona, DSc, MD, Istituto Tcancer (melanoma) is increasing more rap- Dermopatico dell’Immacolata, idly than that of any other type of can- Rome, Italy cer.2 It is widely recognized that most skin Damiano Abeni, MD, MPH, Istituto cancer cases could be prevented.1 Preven- Dermopatico dell’Immacolata Alexa B. Kimball, MD, MPH, Author Affiliations: University tion behaviors include limiting sun expo- Massachusetts General and Brigham of California, San Diego sure during midday hours (10 AM–3 PM and Women’s Hospitals, Boston (Drs Mahler and Kulik and [formerly 10 AM–2 PM]), wearing protec- Moyses Szklo, MD, MPH, DrPH, Mss Harrell and Correa); tive clothing, and wearing sunscreen with The Johns Hopkins University, California State University, a solar protection factor (SPF) of at least Baltimore, Md San Marcos (Dr Mahler and 1 Hywel Williams, MSc, PhD, FRCP, Ms Correa); and Iowa State 15. For the past several decades, research- ers across various disciplines have sought Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, University, Ames (Drs Gibbons England. and Gerrard). to understand the mechanisms underly- Financial Disclosure: None. ing sun exposure and sun protection be- (REPRINTED) ARCH DERMATOL/ VOL 141, MAR 2005 WWW.ARCHDERMATOL.COM 373 ©2005 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Downloaded From: https://jamanetwork.com/ on 09/25/2021 haviors. Although public education programs and me- efficacy for using sunscreen regularly. Finally, we hy- dia attention have succeeded in raising awareness of the pothesized that individuals who received the intervention health risks (skin cancer) of UV exposure,3 health- plus a sunless tanner sample would display the greatest based education interventions have been considerably less sun protection intentions and behavior. successful at motivating behavioral change.4-11 Young adults in particular, motivated by the perceived appear- METHODS ance-enhancing benefits of tanned skin, are continuing to receive large amounts of intentional and uninten- tional exposure to UV radiation.3,8,12-14 In this popula- STUDY POPULATION AND PROCEDURES tion, the possibility of developing skin cancer in the dis- The study population consisted of 54 undergraduates from the tant future may not weigh as heavily in behavioral decision University of California, San Diego (41 women and 13 men) making as the certainty of improving physical appear- and 92 undergraduates from California State University, San ance immediately. Marcos (73 women and 19 men). Participants signed up for a Interventions that address individuals’ concerns about study titled simply “Health Attitudes” in partial fulfillment of appearance may be more effective than health warnings requirements for introductory psychology courses at both in- alone for countering the strong normative influences for stitutions. tanning.8,15-22 A small but growing body of work sug- Participants were run individually or in pairs (separated by gests that an effective strategy might be to emphasize that a partition). The condition to be run during each session was UV exposure can have negative consequences for ap- determined at the beginning of the data collection period us- pearance (eg, wrinkles and age spots).19-21,23 For ex- ing a block randomization procedure. After providing written 15 informed consent, all participants completed the first ques- ample, Mahler et al made the negative appearance con- tionnaire that assessed demographic information and baseline sequences of UV exposure more salient, certain, and sunbathing and sun protection behaviors. Thereafter, individu- immediate for individuals by showing them a photo- als in the control group proceeded directly to a second ques- graph of their own faces taken with a UV filter, which tionnaire designed to assess future intentions to use sun- depicted nonuniform epidermal pigmentation caused by screen and several measures of their perceptions of photoaging chronic UV exposure. Both college students and beach and sun protection. patrons who viewed their UV photographs expressed Prior to completing the second questionnaire, participants greater sun protection intentions than did controls. Fur- in the intervention groups viewed the photoaging video and thermore, in a 1-month follow-up conducted with the had their UV photographs taken and shown to them. Imme- beach patrons, those who had viewed their UV photo- diately after the intervention and before they completed the sec- ond questionnaire, participants in the intervention plus sun- graphs reported engaging in greater sun protection be- less tanner sample group received a 6-oz (177-mL) bottle of haviors than did controls. While these initial results are either Neutrogena (Los Angeles, Calif) or SkinMedica (Encini- promising, we must be able to replicate them. Also, the tas, Calif) sunless tanning lotion containing dihydroxyac- beach patrons in Mahler et al15 were aware that a fol- etone. The experimenter explained to these participants how low-up would be conducted, and so they may have al- to use sunless tanning lotion, stated that using sunless tanner tered their behaviors in anticipation of the follow-up. is the only safe way to get a tan, and informed participants that One purpose of the present study was to determine sunless tanning lotion does not provide sun protection. whether the findings of Mahler et al15 could be repli- At the end of the session, all participants were provided with cated when participants were unaware that they would a sunscreen sample, ostensibly as a thank you gift for partici- be contacted for follow-up. In addition, we sought to de- pating in the study. The study procedures were approved by the institutional review board at each institution. termine whether the effects of the UV photographic in- tervention could be enhanced by offering individuals an alternative method of obtaining a tan: a sunless tanning UV PHOTOGRAPHIC AND PHOTOAGING lotion. The assumption was that sunless tanning lotion INFORMATION INTERVENTION is an effective low-risk alternative to UV exposure that can produce the same appearance benefits associated with The intervention consisted of a 12-minute video and a UV fa- actual UV exposure. Thus, based on the Theory of Al- cial photograph taken with an instant camera. The video de- 24,25 fined photoaging (premature wrinkles and age spots due to UV ternative Behaviors, increasing individuals’ percep- radiation) and discussed ways to reduce the effects of UV ex- tions of the risks of UV exposure while simultaneously posure (using a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 and avoid- presenting them with a viable alternative for obtaining a ing the sun between the hours of 10 AM and 2 PM). The video tan should be particularly effective in changing sun pro- also provided general information about sunscreen, for ex- tection behaviors. ample, explaining what the SPF means and how much sun- We expected that receiving photoaging information screen to use. and viewing a UV facial photograph would result in in- The UV facial photographs were taken with a single-lens re- creased sun protection intentions and behaviors. We also flex camera equipped with