The use of the video, “Dear 16-year-old me,” as a melanoma education tool in ambulatory dermatology

Oluwatobi Olayiwola, Lazovich DeAnn, Angela Wipf, Noah Goldfarb, Bruce Lindgren, Gretchen Bellefeuille, Ronda S. Farah

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Skin cancer continues to be the most common cancer in the United States. The rise of social media platforms and internet use offers an opportunity to present health information through video-based education. The video "Dear 16-Year-OldMe," addresses the risks associated with tanning and sun exposure, the importance of practicing sun protection, and shares stories from melanoma survivors.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the video "Dear 16-Year-Old Me," as a patient education tool in dermatology clinics and to investigate whether viewing a short educational video can change knowledge about skin cancer risks and intention to improve skin cancer prevention behavior.

PATIENTS AND METHODS/MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS: English-speaking clinic patients between the ages of 14 to 45 years old were recruited. Exclusion criteria include both a personal or family history of skin cancer, dysplastic nevi, or other medical comorbidities. Forty-five participants agreed to participate; 38 were eligible for analysis.

RESULTS: Comparison of prevideo and postvideo responses demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in participants reporting they were likely to tan outdoors (p-value = .001). A significant increase was observed in the reported likelihood to have a professional skin examination (p-value < .001) or self-examination (p-value < .001) in the future.

CONCLUSION: and Relevance: Viewing "Dear 16-Year-Old Me," resulted in reported participant changes in intention to tan outdoors and participate in skin surveillance. Although these are encouraging results, future studies with a comparison group are needed to elucidate whether these results correspond to changes in behavior. In the age of viral videos and readily accessible health information via the internet, continued investigation of video media on patient health behaviors should be pursued.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1551-1555
Number of pages5
JournalDermatologic Surgery
Volume47
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by NIH grant P30 CA77598 utilizing the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core shared resource of the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota and by the by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award Number UL1TR000114. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, Inc.

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article

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