Implementation of SCREEN: Formative and Impact Evaluation Findings

Project SCREEN (Skin Cancer Reduction - Early Education Network) is a CDC funded sun safety program that was conducted in summer of 2008 at 17 community locations (i.e., community pools/lakes, summer camps, and beaches) within seven counties in New Jersey. SCREEN uses a train-the-trainer model where lay professionals (i.e., camp counselors, lifeguards) use social marketing materials to improve sun safety literacy and engage children and their caretakers towards improving sun safety behaviors. Pre-post sun safety literacy surveys collected on 121 children demonstrated a 23% improvement in scores for those sites that adhered to the program guidelines (T= 4.7; p<.001). Furthermore, 338 caretakers were also found to achieve between 8% to 14% improvements in sun safety literacy (F= 4.2; p < .01). While reported use of sunscreen did not significantly increase in the post-assessment, application of sunscreen to specific body locations (neck, back, feet, ears) did improve (ChiSq=7.3; p<.007 to ChiSq=16.6; p<.001). Caretakers also reported improvements in children wearing clothing for "covering up" (ChiSq=3.7; p<.05), and use of lip balm with SPF15+ (ChiSq=4.3; p<.04). A number of lessons were learned in our first year of implementation regarding effectiveness of the social marketing materials. Qualitative interviews provided insights as to which materials remained effective throughout the summer versus which materials became stale within weeks after introduction. The authors will provide recommendations regarding how to use social marketing materials to shift specific sun safety messaging from early summer to different messaging as the summer continues.