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Text-message reminders may encourage sunscreen use

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Daily text-message reminders appear to increase sunscreen use over a six-week period, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Skin cancer accounts for one in three cancer cases worldwide. "Many of these cases could be prevented if the population took consistent measures to avoid direct sunlight by wearing protective clothing and applying sunscreen," according to the study.

April W. Armstrong, MD, of the University of California-Davis Health System, Sacramento, and colleagues assessed effectiveness of receiving daily text-message reminders to wear sunscreen over a six-week period. Seventy individuals (age 18 and older) participated in the study and were asked to apply sunscreen daily. Half were randomly assigned to receive text-message reminders, while the other half did not receive any reminders. The text-messages consisted of two components: a text detailing daily local weather information and a text reminding users to apply sunscreen. Adherence was assessed through electronic adherence monitors adapted to participants’ sunscreen tubes that would send electronic messages to a central station every time the cap of a tube was removed.

"At the end of the 42-day (six-week) study period, the control group had a mean [average] adherence of 12.6 days of sunscreen application, which corresponded to a 30-percent daily adherence rate. In comparison, the group that received daily reminder messages had a mean adherence of 23.6 days and a daily adherence rate of 56.1 percent," the authors write. Twenty-four (69 percent) participants in the reminder group reported that they would continue to use the text-message reminders after the study and 31 (89 percent) said they would recommend the reminder system to others. There were no significant demographic factors that predicted adherence.

"Despite continuing educational efforts, a wide gap persists between patients’ understanding of the harmful effects of excessive sun exposure and their regular application of sunscreens," the authors conclude. "The short-term results of our study suggest that cellular telephone text-message reminders are a low-cost, scalable and effective method of bridging this knowledge-action gap. Introduction of a program that incorporates text-message reminders to a large population may be an innovative preventive health measure against the development of skin cancer."

(Source: JAMA/Archives: Archives of Dermatology: November 2009)


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Dates

Posted On: 17 November, 2009
Modified On: 28 August, 2014


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