An intervention consisting of text-message reminders, read-along books, and swim shirts achieved significant improvements in sun protection behaviors in children, compared with information about sun protection alone, according to the results of a randomized controlled trial.
The study, published online Feb. 8 in JAMA Pediatrics, enrolled 300 caregiver-child pairs (children aged 2-6 years), randomizing 153 to receive a read-along book emphasizing sun protection behaviors, a swim shirt, and weekly text messages asking about sun protection measures undertaken and 147 to the usual information about sun protection given at a well-child visit.
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After 4 weeks, the intervention group showed significantly higher scores for sunscreen use both on sunny and cloudy days, significantly higher scores relating to wearing a shirt on sunny days, and significantly lower increases in skin melanin indices on the sun-protected upper arm, compared with the control group (JAMA Pediatr. 2016 Feb 8. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.4373).
“Pediatricians’ seasonal age-specific sun protection recommendations will be more effective if supported by an effective, easily accessible, multicomponent program that can be reinforced at home,” said Byron K. Ho of Northwestern University, Chicago, and his coauthors.
The study was funded by the Pediatric Sun Protection Foundation. No conflicts of interest were declared.