A measure of skin familiarity and its role in the early detection of skin cancer

Skin self-examination (SSE) is promoted widely so that individuals will become familiar with their skin and be better able to identify suspicious changes earlier. However, individuals can also become familiar with their skin other than through purposeful SSE. In this article, we develop a measure of skin familiarity based on the density of spots on 14 different areas of the body. A factor analysis of the 14 body-area scores revealed that they could be grouped into four broad body regions (shoulders and back, front of legs, back of legs, and feet). Each total body score and body-region score has high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from 0.79 to 0.93). Moreover, the scores correlate as expected with skin self-examination behaviors and other personal characteristics, indicating high construct validity. We consider the advantages that skin familiarity measures offer over the exclusive use of SSE measures in the assessment of early detection activities and discuss the direction of future research in this area

Changes in skin protection behaviors, attitudes, and sunburn: In a population with the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world

This study describes changes in skin protection attitudes and outdoor behaviors of adults in Queensland, Australia, using two cross-sectional telephone surveys conducted in 1988/89 (N = 1699) and 1991/92 (N = 2317). After adjustment for potential confounders, there were significant improvements in some skin protection attitudes, time spent outside, hat wearing, sunscreen use, overall skin protection (p < 0.01) and shade use (p < 0.05) between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM on the previous Sunday. The degree of attitudinal and behavioral change varied with age, gender, region, and reported skin type. However, recent sunburn experience remained unchanged. A similar study in Victoria, Australia, observed changes in skin protection attitudes, behaviors, and recent sunburn. We speculate on possible explanations for the lack of improvement in recent sunburn experience despite the improvement in skin protection attitudes, and behaviors, and suggest that part of the explanation may be environmental differences. This has implications for generalizability of such studies outside the geographical region in which they were conducted. Article in Cancer Detection and Prevention 20(6):566-75 · January 1996