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Not part of my routine: a qualitative study of use and understanding of UV forecast information and the SunSmart app

BACKGROUND: The Ultraviolet (UV) Index provides a reliable means of monitoring the strength of UV radiation at the Earth’s surface, which can be used to indicate the potential for skin damage. This qualitative study aims to examine public understanding of the UV Index among Australians who routinely...

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Autores principales: Nicholson, Anna, Murphy, Michael, Walker, Heather, Tinker, Rick, Dobbinson, Suzanne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6698026/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31420026
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7421-x
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author Nicholson, Anna
Murphy, Michael
Walker, Heather
Tinker, Rick
Dobbinson, Suzanne
author_facet Nicholson, Anna
Murphy, Michael
Walker, Heather
Tinker, Rick
Dobbinson, Suzanne
author_sort Nicholson, Anna
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The Ultraviolet (UV) Index provides a reliable means of monitoring the strength of UV radiation at the Earth’s surface, which can be used to indicate the potential for skin damage. This qualitative study aims to examine public understanding of the UV Index among Australians who routinely use UV forecast information as well as those who do not. METHODS: Recent use of the SunSmart app (a popular mobile and tablet app that provides UV forecast information) served as a proxy for use of UV forecast information. Six focus groups were conducted with ‘new users’, who trialled the SunSmart app for the first time in the two weeks preceding the group discussion. In addition, 15 in-depth interviews were conducted with ‘existing users’, who routinely used the SunSmart app. Thematic discourse analysis was undertaken to compare views and experiences. RESULTS: Misperceptions about UV radiation were common. Participants learnt new information about UV radiation, the UV Index, and the times of the day that sun protection is recommended. Among adults who were using UV forecast information for the first time, this learning rarely translated to new behaviours; for these participants, the UV Index forecast information and recommendations were inconsistent with their own observation of the weather and subsequent judgement about their propensity to burn. Thus new users considered the UV forecast information to be overly cautious. In contrast, existing users recognised their inability to judge the UV Index level; for these participants, UV forecast information provided by the SunSmart app was incorporated into their daily routines and used to inform their sun protection behaviours. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: No matter how broadly UV forecast information is promoted, it is unlikely to improve sun protection behaviours across the Victorian population due to the low level of basic understanding of UV radiation. Public education strategies that correct the commonly held misperception that temperature and/or sunshine can reliably predict the potential for UV damage are required. Improved public awareness about UV radiation and how the UV Index can be used to prevent skin cancer may help Australians to develop more effective sun protection habits.
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spelling pubmed-66980262019-08-19 Not part of my routine: a qualitative study of use and understanding of UV forecast information and the SunSmart app Nicholson, Anna Murphy, Michael Walker, Heather Tinker, Rick Dobbinson, Suzanne BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: The Ultraviolet (UV) Index provides a reliable means of monitoring the strength of UV radiation at the Earth’s surface, which can be used to indicate the potential for skin damage. This qualitative study aims to examine public understanding of the UV Index among Australians who routinely use UV forecast information as well as those who do not. METHODS: Recent use of the SunSmart app (a popular mobile and tablet app that provides UV forecast information) served as a proxy for use of UV forecast information. Six focus groups were conducted with ‘new users’, who trialled the SunSmart app for the first time in the two weeks preceding the group discussion. In addition, 15 in-depth interviews were conducted with ‘existing users’, who routinely used the SunSmart app. Thematic discourse analysis was undertaken to compare views and experiences. RESULTS: Misperceptions about UV radiation were common. Participants learnt new information about UV radiation, the UV Index, and the times of the day that sun protection is recommended. Among adults who were using UV forecast information for the first time, this learning rarely translated to new behaviours; for these participants, the UV Index forecast information and recommendations were inconsistent with their own observation of the weather and subsequent judgement about their propensity to burn. Thus new users considered the UV forecast information to be overly cautious. In contrast, existing users recognised their inability to judge the UV Index level; for these participants, UV forecast information provided by the SunSmart app was incorporated into their daily routines and used to inform their sun protection behaviours. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: No matter how broadly UV forecast information is promoted, it is unlikely to improve sun protection behaviours across the Victorian population due to the low level of basic understanding of UV radiation. Public education strategies that correct the commonly held misperception that temperature and/or sunshine can reliably predict the potential for UV damage are required. Improved public awareness about UV radiation and how the UV Index can be used to prevent skin cancer may help Australians to develop more effective sun protection habits. BioMed Central 2019-08-16 /pmc/articles/PMC6698026/ /pubmed/31420026 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7421-x Text en © The Author(s). 2019 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Nicholson, Anna
Murphy, Michael
Walker, Heather
Tinker, Rick
Dobbinson, Suzanne
Not part of my routine: a qualitative study of use and understanding of UV forecast information and the SunSmart app
title Not part of my routine: a qualitative study of use and understanding of UV forecast information and the SunSmart app
title_full Not part of my routine: a qualitative study of use and understanding of UV forecast information and the SunSmart app
title_fullStr Not part of my routine: a qualitative study of use and understanding of UV forecast information and the SunSmart app
title_full_unstemmed Not part of my routine: a qualitative study of use and understanding of UV forecast information and the SunSmart app
title_short Not part of my routine: a qualitative study of use and understanding of UV forecast information and the SunSmart app
title_sort not part of my routine: a qualitative study of use and understanding of uv forecast information and the sunsmart app
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6698026/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31420026
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7421-x
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