Biomedical subjects

Joni A Mayer

Publications and source records attributed to Joni A Mayer.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Comparing two methods of measuring legislation compliance among indoor tanning facilities.

BACKGROUND: Accurate measurement of compliance by tanning facilities to indoor tanning legislation is important. OBJECTIVE: This study compared a telephone-based measurement procedure with a face-to-face visit. METHODS: Indoor tanning facilities (N = 115) in San Diego County, California, were contacted by two adolescents posing as prospective customers using each method. Two compliance variables were assessed: number of times one can tan during 1 week and written parental consent for minors. RESULTS: Facility compliance with the frequency variable by face-to-face and telephone was 25.5% and 17.5%, respectively. These rates for the parental consent variable were 73.3% and 80.8%, respectively. Percent agreement between data collection methods was 71.3% for compliance with the frequency recommendation and 76.3% for parental consent regulation. Although traditional statistical tests indicated poor concordance, an alternative test indicated good concordance. LIMITATIONS: Levels of concordance for the confederates differed. CONCLUSION: Telephone assessment of compliance is fairly comparable with the more labor-intensive, face-to-face assessment.

Beauty Culture↗

PubMed2006

Postal workers' occupational and leisure-time sun safety behaviors (United States).

OBJECTIVES: United States Postal Service letter carriers are exposed to long bouts of UVR and thus are vulnerable to skin cancer. While previous studies have shown that occupational sun protection is often deficient, few studies have examined outdoor workers' behavior during leisure time. METHODS: Subjects (n = 2,660) self-reported widebrim hat and sunscreen use over the past five workdays and past two non-working days using Likert-type scales. Generalized linear mixed models and generalized estimating equations were used to compare hat and sunscreen rates and predictors during occupational and leisure time. RESULTS: On average, carriers spent 3.9 h outside during workdays and 3.3 h during non-working days. Sunscreen and widebrim hat use during the workday is low and rates of use are significantly lower during non-working days. CONCLUSIONS: Sun safety interventions for carriers should encourage sun protection at all times when outdoors.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Effects of an introductory letter on response rates to a teen/parent telephone health survey.

The authors conducted a pilot study in preparation for a larger investigation that will rely on telephone surveys to assess select health behaviors of teens and their parents, with a focus on indoor tanning. This study used a randomized design to assess the impact of a presurvey letter on response rates to a telephone survey, as well as prevalence estimates of ever having used an indoor tanning facility. The letter did not have a significant effect on response rates or prevalence estimates in the two cities under study. Findings suggest that researchers should not assume that a letter sent in advance of a telephone survey will necessarily increase response rates enough to justify their use.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Ethnoracial differences among outdoor workers in key sun-safety behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Few sun-safety studies have included ethnoracially diverse groups. Comparison across such groups of sun-safety behaviors was the main objective of this analysis. METHODS: Postal workers (n =2543) self-reported frequency of sunscreen, wide-brim hat, and sunglasses use during the last 5 workdays on 5-point Likert-type scales ranging from "never" to "always." Responses were dichotomized by "always" versus all other responses. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess the association between ethnicity/race and frequency of each sun safety behavior. The baseline data reported in this paper were collected in the summer of 2001, and the randomized trial was completed in the summer of 2004. RESULTS: Ethnicity/race was significantly related to sunscreen and sunglasses use. For both sunscreen and sunglasses, the white group had significantly higher "always" rates than the other four groups (30% vs 14% to 23% and 63% vs 44% to 52%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicated that although non-Latino white employees tended to have higher rates of sun-safety behaviors, the rates of adequate protection of all groups were low.

Female↗

PubMed2005

Reducing ultraviolet radiation exposure to prevent skin cancer methodology and measurement.

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer, and is also one of the most preventable. This paper builds on an evidence review of skin cancer prevention interventions that was conducted for the Guide to Community Preventive Services (n=85 studies), and summarizes the state of knowledge about research methodology and measurement in studies of the effectiveness of interventions to reduce ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure. As this field advances, researchers should strive to minimize threats to validity in their study designs, as well as to consider the balance between internal and external validity. There is a need for more longer-duration interventions, and follow-up periods that make possible conclusions about the potential of these interventions to affect intermediate markers of skin cancer or at least sustained behavior change. Also, more work is needed to minimize attrition and characterize nonresponders and study dropouts. Verbal report measures of behavior are the most widely used measures of solar protection behavior. Given their limitations, investigators should routinely collect data about reliability and validity of those measures. They should also increase efforts to complement verbal data with objective measures including observations, skin reflectance, personal dosimetry, skin swabbing, and inspection of moles. Measures of environments and policies should incorporate observations, documentation, and direct measures of ambient UVR and shade. This article places the data derived from the evidence review in the context of needs and recommendations for future research in skin cancer prevention.

Environmental Exposure↗

PubMed2005

Disseminating a sun safety program to zoological parks: the effects of tailoring.

Previous research found that a sun safety program for visitors at 1 zoo increased sun safety behaviors. This randomized study compared the effects of tailored dissemination materials plus 2 brief follow-up phone calls (tailored group) versus generic materials (basic group) on implementation by other zoos of the previously evaluated sun safety program. Education directors of 126 zoos completed surveys several months following initial dissemination and 1 year later. During Summer 1, 40% of tailored group zoos and 24% of basic group zoos offered visitors at least 1 sun safety activity (odds ratio=2.2, 95% confidence interval=1.0-4.8). During Summer 2, these rates were 34% and 44%, respectively (ns). The pattern of findings suggests that tailoring had no incremental long-term impact and that the generic materials produced a good level of dissemination.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Sun-protective behaviors of California farm workers.

OBJECTIVE: Farm workers are exposed to long hours of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR), placing them at higher risk for skin cancer. The goal of this study was to evaluate farm workers' sun exposure behaviors. METHODS: Farm workers (n=326) in the San Joaquin Valley of California were interviewed about their sun protective behaviors; these behaviors also were observed directly and these data were used to assess whether participants adequately protected against UVR exposure. RESULTS: All participants were Latino men with a mean age of 33 years. Although rates of wearing any hat and long-sleeved shirts were high, rates of wearing wide-brimmed hats and sunscreen were low. CONCLUSIONS: This study is important because there is limited research focused on farm workers' protective behaviors against UVR exposure. Interventions to improve sun protection behaviors of farm workers are needed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Validating outdoor workers' self-report of sun protection.

BACKGROUND: Few studies assessing sun safety behaviors have used validated survey instruments. Using an observational strategy, this study measured the validity of self-report of occupational sun protection behaviors. METHODS: Postal workers (N = 1,036) self-reported their frequency of protective clothing and sunglasses use during the past 5 workdays on Likert scales ranging from "Never" to "Always". Responses were dichotomized by Always vs. all other responses. Data collectors observed these same behaviors during mail delivery several days before survey administration. Agreement between the two measures was computed. RESULTS: Self-report for all items was significantly related to observed behaviors, with Kappa values in the good to excellent range (Kappas = 0.51-0.83). CONCLUSIONS: For outdoor postal workers, survey items assessing recent occupational use of sun-protective items had high levels of validity.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Indoor tanning facility density in eighty U.S. cities.

The purpose of this study was to examine the number of tanning facilities in select U.S. cities. The twenty most populated cities from each of 4 U.S. regions were selected for the sample. For each city, data on the number of tanning facilities, climate, and general demographic profile were collected. Data for state tanning facility legislation also were collected. A tanning facility density variable was created by dividing the city's number of facilities by its population size. The 80 cities had an average of 50 facilities each. Results of linear regression analysis indicated that higher density was significantly associated with colder climate, lower median income, and higher proportion of Whites. These data indicate that indoor tanning facilities are prevalent in the environments of U.S. urban-dwellers. Cities having the higher density profile may be logical targets for interventions promoting less or safer use of these facilities.

Beauty Culture↗

PubMed2002

Promotion of frequent tanning sessions by indoor tanning facilities: two studies.

BACKGROUND: Indoor tanning may increase the risk of melanoma and other health problems. Frequent users of indoor tanning facilities may be at particularly high risk. OBJECTIVE: In study 1 our purpose was to assess the prevalence and nature of indoor tanning advertisements; in study 2 we aimed to assess tanning facility compliance to recommended exposure schedules. METHODS: In study 1, tanning facility advertisements over a 4-month period from 24 San Diego County newspapers were monitored. In study 2, we assessed compliance with recommended exposure schedules via a telephone interview of 60 San Diego County tanning facilities. RESULTS: Approximately 75% of the indoor tanning advertisements promoted unlimited tanning. Only 5% of facilities were in compliance with recommended tanning schedules, and 100% offered "unlimited" tanning packages. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the indoor tanning industry, through pricing incentives that allow frequent sessions, may be promoting overexposure to UVR. Stronger legislation is needed to address this issue.

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