Watch your back: A randomized efficacy study of a theory-guided website to promote melanoma knowledge and skin self-examination among young adults

Abstract

Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer, and incidence rates have been rising steadily for decades. Early detection improves prognosis, but even though most melanomas are visible to the naked eye, skin self-examination (SSE) rates are low, especially among young adults. These low SSE rates are troubling since melanoma is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers among people ages 18–29 years. We developed a theory-guided website to promote melanoma knowledge and SSE among young adults and tested its efficacy in a randomized controlled study with 190 university students. Intervention group participants scored higher on average than control group participants on all outcome measures including melanoma knowledge (P < 0.001), perceived severity of melanoma (P < 0.001), perceived susceptibility for developing melanoma (P < 0.01), self-efficacy for performing SSE correctly (P < 0.001), response efficacy of SSE for helping people identify melanoma in its earlier most treatable stages (P < 0.001), and intention to perform SSE (P < 0.001).

Keywords:

• Community health education
• Health communication
• Internet
• Melanoma
• Self-examination
• Skin cancer
• Young adults

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Maura Iversen for making it possible to conduct the study at Northeastern University.

Disclaimer statement

Contributor Both Dr Arnold and Dr DeJong have made substantial contributions to the design, implementation and evaluation of the work reported in this paper. Dr Arnold produced the first draft of the paper to which both Dr DeJong and Dr Arnold have made substantial revisions through multiple drafts.

Funding This work was funded by a grant from the Milton Fund [72-040-2065-2], Harvard University.

Conflict of interest There are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval The Harvard School of Public Health Human Subjects Committee and the Northeastern University Division of Institutional Compliance, Human Subjects Review Committee approved the study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marilyn Arnold

Marilyn Arnold, M.P.H., Sc.D. is a Lecturer in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health where she teaches courses on health communication, including web-based strategies for public health interventions.

William DeJong

William DeJong, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), where he teaches courses in intervention planning and health communication.