Objective
This manuscript describes the acceptability and preliminary behavioral outcomes from a pilot randomized control trial of a web-based indoor tanning intervention for young adult women. The intervention targets indoor tanning user’s perceptions of then benefits and value of tanning and addresses the role of body image-related constructs in indoor tanning.
Methods
Participants were 186 young adult women who reported indoor tanning at least once in the past 12 months. The study design was a 2-arm randomized controlled trial with pre and post assessments and random assignment to an intervention or control condition. Intervention acceptability was assessed by obtaining participants’ evaluation of the intervention. Regression analyses were used to test for intervention condition differences in preliminary behavioral outcomes measured at 6-weeks post-intervention.
Results
Participants provided favorable evaluations of the intervention on several dimensions and a highly positive overall rating. Intervention participants were more likely to report abstaining from indoor tanning and indicated a lower likelihood of using indoor tanning in the future compared to control participants on the post-intervention assessment. No differences were found for sunburns.
Conclusions
The results of this pilot randomized controlled trial provide evidence that the indoor tanning intervention is acceptable to participants and may encourage cessation of indoor tanning behavior. The findings provide preliminary support for an indoor tanning intervention that engages tanners to challenge their beliefs about the benefits of indoor tanning. The use of a web-based indoor tanning intervention is unique and provides strong potential for dissemination.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.