Using the Internet to communicate the sun‐safety message to teenagers

Abstract

Skin cancer is the world’s most prevalent form of cancer, yet it is one of the most preventable. Examines the challenge of communicating the “sun‐safety” health education message to teenagers. Teenagers represent a key audience, because skin‐cancer risks are strongly linked to sun‐exposure behaviour and experiences during adolescence. Focus groups involving those concerned with child sun‐safety were conducted in both Australia and the UK. In‐depth interviews with UK teenagers were used to explore their experience of the Internet and their opinions on its potential as a channel for promoting sun‐safety. Both Australian and UK teenagers felt that they lacked information on sun‐safety. Interviews showed that teenagers thought that a good Web site should have speed of access, ease of reading and navigation, good links, audio‐visual effects and interactivity. They saw the Internet as potentially useful in providing information about sun‐safety, suggesting the use of celebrities, prizes with competitions, and teenage‐ rather than health‐oriented sites. The evidence from this research suggests that sun‐safety is a health education issue on which the particular communication characteristics of the Internet can be utilised to good effect. The results suggest considerable synergy between the Internet as a medium, sun‐safety as a message and teenagers as an audience.