They're So Vain: Teaching Teens to Avoid Sun Damage. WSJ Article November 15, 2011
This article affirms the type of work the Joseph E. Enright Foundation did this past summer at the Presbyterian Camp at Johnsonburg. We administered a test prior to our sun safety workshop on each orientation day, provided information throughout the week and then ran a post-test the day the childdren left the camp. Our research shows that children's responses went from an average of 25% of correct answers to 86% in just one week!
Moreover, we observed significant behavioral changes! Children wore sun screen throughout the day, reapplied after swimming, wore more protective clothing and avoided the sun during the heat of the day.
By LAURA LANDRO
To dissuade some members of the "Jersey Shore" generation from excessive tanning now, show them how bad their sun-weathered faces will look later in life.
That's the gist of the latest guidance from U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The group last week issued draft recommendations advising doctors to counsel fair-skinned youths ages 10 to 24 about minimizing ultraviolet-light exposure to cut the risk for skin cancer.
Dire warnings about skin cancer aren't as effective as appeals to vanity in that age group, evidence reviewed by the task force indicated.
"When you tell a 14-year-old that he or she should avoid excessive sun so they won't get skin cancer when they are old, they don't worry because they don't think they are ever going to get old," says task force chairwoman Virginia Moyer. "But they are worried about their appearance now."
Researchers have built up evidence showing that the behavior of teens and young adults can be changed with a variety of counseling approaches focused on appearance, says Dr. Moyer, a professor of pediatrics and head of the Academic General Pediatrics Section at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
One of the interventions shown to work uses a UV camera to show how the sun is already changing the skin on the face. For females in their late teens—the population most likely to pursue indoor tanning—booklets and videos on photo-aging and 30-minute peer-counseling sessions were shown to be most effective.
Dr. Moyer notes computer programs can simulate how a young face will age over time due to sun, for example.
In recent surveys of U.S. adolescents, about 83% reported at least one sunburn during the previous summer. Only 34% reported sunscreen use, and nearly 10% of adolescents and 20% of young adults reported indoor tanning during the previous year. The task force recommendations were based on a review of evidence published in February in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Jennifer Lin, a researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., who led the review, says studies show the appearance-focused counseling was linked to a decrease in self-reported sun exposure. She says such counseling can easily be done by primary care providers.
Starting healthy sun habits early can cut cancer risk, says Susan Weinkle, president of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. But skin cancer can strike anyone, not just the fair skinned, she adds.
And some questioned the focus on youth. "We are concerned that [the task force's] rationale will lead adults to believe they don't need to practice sun protection, particularly those adults with darker complexions," the Skin Cancer Foundation, a non-profit group, said in a statement.
Some clinicians may find it necessary to invest in materials or technologies such as professionally produced booklets, computer-based interventions or a UV camera for use in appearance-based counseling.
|
