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Results of a Social Media Campaign to Prevent Indoor Tanning by Teens: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Preventive Medicine Reports
  • David B. Buller, Klein Buendel, Inc.
  • Sherry Pagoto, University of Connecticut
  • Katie Baker, East Tennessee State University
  • Barbara J. Walkosz, Klein Buendel, Inc.
  • Joel Hillhouse, East Tennessee State University
  • Kimberly L. Henry, Colorado State University
  • Julia Berteletti, Klein Buendel, Inc.
  • Jessica Bibeau, University of Connecticut
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2021
Description

Indoor tanning (IT) increases risk of developing skin cancer. A social media campaign to reduce mother's permissiveness toward their teenage daughters IT was evaluated. Mothers (N = 869) of daughters aged 14–17 in 34 states without bans on IT by minors were enrolled in a randomized trial with assessments at baseline and 12-months follow-up in 2017–19. A year-long adolescent health campaign was delivered to all mothers. The intervention group received posts on preventing IT and the control group, posts about preventing prescription drug misuse. Daughters (n = 469; 54.0%) completed the assessments at baseline and 12 months. At 12-month follow-up, intervention-group mothers were less permissive of IT by daughters (unadjusted means = 1.70 [95% CI: 1.59, 1.80] v. 1.85 [1.73, 1.97] [5-point Likert scale], b = -0.152), reported more communication about avoiding IT with daughters (4.09 [3.84, 4.35] v. 3.42 [3.16, 3.68] [sum of 7 yes/no items], b = 0.213), and had lower intentions to indoor tan (1.41 [1.28, 1.55] v. 1.60 [1.43, 1.76] [7-point likelihood scale], b = -0.221) than control-group mothers. Daughters confirmed intervention-group mothers communicated about IT (3.81 [3.49, 4.14] v. 3.20 [2.87, 3.53] [sum of 7 yes/no items], b = 0.237) and shared IT posts (unadjusted percentages = 52.4% v. 36.4%, b = 0.438) more than control-group mothers. No differences were found in IT behavior, self-efficacy to refuse permission, and negative attitudes toward IT. A social media campaign may be an effective strategy to convince mothers to withhold permission for IT, which may help increase the effectiveness of state laws designed to reduce IT by minors by requiring parental permission.

Copyright Statement

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International
Citation Information
David B. Buller, Sherry Pagoto, Katie Baker, Barbara J. Walkosz, et al.. "Results of a Social Media Campaign to Prevent Indoor Tanning by Teens: A Randomized Controlled Trial" Preventive Medicine Reports Vol. 22 (2021)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/joel-hillhouse/71/