Communicating about Youth’s Sun Exposure Risk to Soccer Coaches and Parents: A Pilot Study in Georgia

Abstract

Efforts to increase the sun-protective behaviors of children were extended to outdoor recreational sports and youth soccer settings in this study. The pretest results of a pilot survey of coaches (n = 12), parents (n = 50), and youths (n = 61) on eight soccer teams in south Georgia were used to guide the development of a health education program for coaches. In the pilot programs, half the coaches were trained to be involved in soccer-playing youths' sun protection by acting as positive role models and promoting sun protection to youths and their parents. The pilot demonstrated coaches' willingness to participate in sun protection promotion to youth: Youths indicated that coaches and parents were more likely to tell youths to wear sunscreen after the training than before, and coaches perceived getting youths to wear sunscreen to be less difficult than before.

Sunscreen use and availability among female collegiate athletes

“…Coaches can use their influence as a means to educate athletes about proper sun protection and provide daily sunscreen reminders. 17 In addition, the teams' physicians, nurses, residents, or even medical students may provide teaching on proper sun safety before each season. Presentations on application methods, reapplication principles, and clothing choices may further decrease an athlete's UV exposure risk.…”

Assessing College Students' Attitudes Toward Responsible Drinking Messages to Identify Promising Binge Drinking Intervention Strategies

“…This type of personalized appeal has been widely used in the communication literature to increase compliance with health-related behaviors like healthy sun behavior for groups such as farmers (Parrott, Monahan, Ainsworth, & Steiner, 1998) and the coaches and parents of children who play outdoor sports (Parrott et al, 1999). Buller, Borland, and Burgoon (1998) found that appeals designed to increase healthy sun behavior for individuals need to be written differently based on the target person's stage of change to adopt healthier sun behaviors (whether or not he or she already intends to adopt the healthy behaviors).…”

Using coaches as role models of sun protection for youth: Georgia's “got youth covered” project

“…Formative evaluation conducted over the course of one year in the project area identified gaps in the availability of resources for role models to support sun protection promotion and behavior (Parrott et al, 1999). As a result, a youth soccer training program and manual developed around the following topics: (1) skin cancer facts; (2) skin cancer and youth; (3) "Make it you GOAL to BLOCK the sun!…”

“…The hypothesized model required measurement of six variables. Scales used were based on prior research (Parrott et al, 1998) and pilot-tested (see Parrott et al 1999). Soccer-playing youth answered a seven-item survey, including: (a) does your coach tell you to wear sunscreen; and (b) does your coach wear sunscreen, which were answered on a scale of 0-3 (don't know, never, sometimes, always).…”