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Cancer Control Research

Abstract

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from Investigator's Abstract) Sun safety is a priority for adults at work and recreation for the prevention of skin cancer and of ocular damage. Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is high in outdoor environments at high elevations, even in winter. In this project, a worksite sun safety program will be designed and evaluated for its effectiveness in a North American high-elevation outdoor recreation industry, the first such program for outdoor workers in a North American corporate industry according to the investigators. Twenty-nine ski areas in western North America have agreed to participate in a three-phase project. In Phase I, focus groups and a survey of employees, a survey of guests, and a community analysis in the 2000-01 ski season will provide feasibility data for program design. In Phase II, year-round and seasonal ski area employees (42 percent work outdoors) will receive a series of printed sun safety education materials during the ski season and ski patrollers and instructors will be trained in sun protection education and sunburn treatment. Program features and procedures will be based on previous research and on diffusion of innovations, social cognitive, and message design theories. Ski areas will be pair-matched and members of each pair will be randomized to intervention or control groups in the 2001-02 ski season. Professional interviewers will complete a baseline telephone survey with a random sample of 1,286 employees (54 per ski area) selected from employee rosters in Fall, 2001. Posttest surveys will be conducted by telephone with this employee sample in spring 2002 and in summer 2002. Also, two cross-sectional samples of 600 guests each will be surveyed on-site at ski areas by research staff in spring 2001 (baseline) and spring 2002 (posttest). Photographic assessments of protective clothing at the ski areas will be used to validate self-report measures. The primary endpoints for program evaluation will be application of sunscreen, protective eyewear and clothing, and limiting time in the sun. Comparisons between groups in 2001-2002 on employee sun protection during the ski season will provide a primary evaluation of program success. The summer 2002 survey will provide evidence of sustained program effects. In Phase III, the worksite sun safety program will be given to the ski areas in the control group. Program implementation will be monitored by telephone at the control ski areas and intervention ski areas in the 2002-03 ski season to assess adoption and institutionalization.