Melanoma literacy and predictors for skin self-examination in three western U.S. states: A population-based survey.

Abstract

10558 Background: Melanoma is a leading cause of skin cancer deaths, despite being easily treated when detected early. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between melanoma knowledge and beliefs, and the performance of skin self-examination (SSE) in three US states with high incidence rates of melanoma. Understanding the barriers to behaviors such as SSE can aid in the development of interventions aimed at increasing the frequency of early detection and reducing melanoma-related deaths. Methods: A total of 15,000 surveys were distributed to households in the states of Oregon, Washington, and Utah using a stratified two-stage sampling design. The survey responses were weighted to resemble the gender and age distributions of the US census. Rural areas were oversampled to ensure sufficient representation. The first objective of this study was to assess melanoma literacy, including knowledge about melanoma risks, attitudes, and preventive behaviors. Our second objective was to investigate the relationship between self-reported SSE and melanoma literacy, self-efficacy, and belief in the benefits of performing SSE. Results: Among 2,326 respondents, characteristics were similar across states (weighted by census-based population percentages), including demographics, baseline knowledge, performance of SSE, and self-efficacy in performing SSE. Rural respondents had a higher frequency of personal history of melanoma (16.2%) compared to urban respondents (9.9%). Only 21.2% of the respondents demonstrated high knowledge of melanoma. 62.8% of respondents reported having performed a SSE at some point in their lives, with only 24.6% of respondents having done so in the past 2 months. Most respondents (84.8%) believed in the effectiveness of SSE in detecting skin cancer, but only 38.3% and 7.3% reported being "fairly" or "very" confident in performing SSE, respectively. The performance of SSE was most strongly correlated with higher melanoma knowledge, higher self-efficacy, and a personal history of melanoma. Conclusions: The results of the survey indicate that melanoma literacy among respondents in 3 high-risk Western states is limited. A higher level of literacy was associated with a higher likelihood of reported early detection behaviors. This study provides a baseline assessment and serves as a foundation for the development of public health campaigns aimed at promoting prevention and early detection of this deadly cancer.