Abstract
Despite education about the risks of excessive sun exposure, teenagers in Australia are sun-seeking, with sunburn common in summer. Conversely, some regular (time-limited) exposure to sunlight (that avoids sunburn) is necessary for vitamin D and healthy bones and other molecules important for immune and metabolic health. New interventions are thus required to better support teenagers to make healthy and balanced decisions about their sun behaviors. This paper describes the development of a prototype online tool—a smartphone app—that aimed to foster safe sun practices in teenagers. We recruited young adolescents (aged 12–13 years, n = 24) as “co-researchers” to provide ongoing input into the nature and design of the online tool. This age group was selected, as it is a critical time when young people transition from primary education, where “SunSmart” behaviors are entrenched in Australian schools, to high school, where risky behaviors emerge. Through a series of interviews and workshops, we codesigned an Apple iOS smartphone app with the co-researchers, leading health promotion professionals, researchers, and app designers. The developed app, Sun Safe, contains educational content relevant to teenagers about safe sun behaviors, complemented by other features requested by co-researchers and stakeholders to help engage young people, including gamified quizzes to test their sun health knowledge, real-time weather data on the UV Index and temperature, a sunscreen application timer, and reminders to check the UV Index. The developed prototype app was rated well by co-researchers, suggesting it is suitable for further feasibility and efficacy testing as an intervention tool to improve knowledge and promote safe sun behaviors by young adolescents.
Highlights
Sun protection is important for young people in Australia, as intermittent excessive sun exposure in childhood and adolescence is a major risk factor for melanoma [1]
Results from the Australian Health Survey (2011– 2012) suggest that young adults are the population at most risk of vitamin D deficiency [8], which may be explained by adolescents spending more time indoors as they become young adults [9]
With initial input from academic researchers working in the Sun Health space and public health advocates from Cancer Council WA, the health promotion message of the online tool was developed, which was for users to “spend some time outdoors being active for vitamin D using sun protection as indicated by the UV Index.”
Summary
Sun protection is important for young people in Australia, as intermittent excessive sun exposure (causing sunburn) in childhood and adolescence is a major risk factor for melanoma [1]. Australian adolescents are twice as likely to experience sunburn on the weekend in summer as adults (∼1 in 4 vs ∼1 in 8) [2]. Sun protection messages need to target adolescents ( males) who are less likely to engage in the most effective sun protection behaviors and are at increased risk of sunburn [5]. Results from the Australian Health Survey (2011– 2012) suggest that young adults are the population at most risk of vitamin D deficiency (blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D of
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