Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Grant Details

Grant Number: 1R01CA192652-01A1 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator: Buller, David
Organization: Klein Buendel, Inc.
Project Title: Likes Pins and Views: Engaging Moms on Teen Indoor Tanning Thru Social Media
Fiscal Year: 2015


Abstract

¿ DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Social media has dramatically changed the Internet landscape. Users gather information and actively disseminate it, influencing information spread and credibility. Consequently, many Americans are much more engaged in public discourse on social media than when older media such as television dominated the media terrain. Our team proposes to evaluate the effectiveness of employing social media in a public health communication campaign directed to mothers of adolescent daughters with the goal of decreasing indoor tanning (IT) by adolescent girls. This research is significant because many health agencies and organizations rely on social media yet there is a paucity of research on their potential influence in health communication campaigns. This research gap has led to calls for investigations that identify best practices for social media in such campaigns, including by NIH, and our proposed research will fill this gap. The focus on preventing IT by minors is also significant because IT has been linked to elevated risk for developing melanoma. Many states have enacted bans on access to IT by minors, but many laws include exceptions for parental permission. Current parental-permission laws are less effective at reducing IT by teen girls than age restrictions. The social media campaign seeks to reduce mothers' IT permissiveness to maximize the effectiveness of parental- permission laws. The specific aims are to: 1) develop and implement a social media campaign for mothers on health and wellness of adolescent daughters that includes theory-based messaging advocating adolescent girls avoid IT and 2) evaluate the effectiveness of the IT messages at a) decreasing mothers' permissiveness for daughters to indoor tan and daughters' perceptions of their permissiveness, b) reducing the prevalence of IT by mothers and daughters, and c) increasing the number of mothers who support strengthening bans on IT by minors. Mother/daughter pairs from secondary schools in Eastern Tennessee, recruited with the help of the state's Coordinated School Health program, will be enrolled in a group-randomized controlled design; Tennessee requires parental permission for minors to indoor tan. The IT messages will be delivered to mothers through an integrated social media campaign using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram over two school years (18 months). Schools will be assigned by county to receive a health and wellness social media campaign with (intervention) or without (control) IT messages. Mothers and daughters will be assessed at baseline and 6- and 12-months after the campaign concludes, with validated self-report measures of mothers' permissiveness for daughter to indoor tan and mothers' and daughters' prevalence of IT. Mothers' support for a complete ban on IT by minors will be objectively assessed by asking them to take actions to advocate for a ban to their state legislators (i.e., sign a petition, send a letter/meeting request, volunteer to attend a hearing). Secondary aims are to analyze potential moderators (e.g., mother/daughter characteristics; mothers' political ideology) and mediation of campaign effectiveness by theoretical concepts and campaign engagement.



Publications

Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use Among Female Adolescents: The Relative Influence of Maternal Factors, Social Norms, and Perceptions of Risk and Availability.
Authors: Wallace G.T. , Buller D.B. , Pagoto S. , Berteletti J. , Baker K.E. , Mathis S. , Henry K.L. .
Source: Drugs (abingdon, England), 2023; 30(3), p. 334-343.
EPub date: 2022-01-25 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 37587980
Related Citations

The Process of Responding to COVID-19 Misinformation in a Social Media Feed.
Authors: Buller D.B. , Pagoto S. , Walkosz B.J. , Woodall W.G. , Berteletti J. , Kinsey A. , Henry K. , DiVito J. .
Source: Journal Of Public Health Management And Practice : Jphmp, 2022-11-11 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2022-11-11 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 36383086
Related Citations

Promoting Social Distancing and COVID-19 Vaccine Intentions to Mothers: Randomized Comparison of Information Sources in Social Media Messages.
Authors: Buller D. , Walkosz B. , Henry K. , Woodall W.G. , Pagoto S. , Berteletti J. , Kinsey A. , Divito J. , Baker K. , Hillhouse J. .
Source: Jmir Infodemiology, 2022 Jul-Dec; 2(2), p. e36210.
EPub date: 2022-08-23 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 36039372
Related Citations

Effects of Engagement with a Social Media Campaign for Mothers to Prevent Indoor Tanning by Teens in a Randomized Trial.
Authors: Buller D.B. , Pagoto S. , Henry K.L. , Baker K. , Walkosz B.J. , Hillhouse J. , Berteletti J. , Bibeau J. .
Source: Journal Of Health Communication, 2022-06-03 00:00:00.0; 27(6), p. 394-406.
EPub date: 2022-08-22 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 35993376
Related Citations

Persisting Effects of a Social Media Campaign to Prevent Indoor Tanning: A Randomized Trial.
Authors: Buller D.B. , Pagoto S. , Henry K.L. , Baker K. , Walkosz B.J. , Hillhouse J. , Berteletti J. , Bibeau J. , Kinsey A. .
Source: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention : A Publication Of The American Association For Cancer Research, Cosponsored By The American Society Of Preventive Oncology, 2022-01-21 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2022-01-21 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 35064063
Related Citations

Results of a social media campaign to prevent indoor tanning by teens: A randomized controlled trial.
Authors: Buller D.B. , Pagoto S. , Baker K. , Walkosz B.J. , Hillhouse J. , Henry K.L. , Berteletti J. , Bibeau J. .
Source: Preventive Medicine Reports, 2021 Jun; 22, p. 101382.
EPub date: 2021-04-18 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 33996394
Related Citations

Human Papillomavirus Vaccination and Social Media: Results in a Trial With Mothers of Daughters Aged 14-17.
Authors: Buller D.B. , Pagoto S. , Henry K. , Berteletti J. , Walkosz B.J. , Bibeau J. , Baker K. , Hillhouse J. , Arroyo K.M. .
Source: Frontiers In Digital Health, 2021; 3, p. 683034.
EPub date: 2021-09-03 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 34713152
Related Citations

Insights on HPV vaccination in the United States from mothers' comments on facebook posts in a randomized trial.
Authors: Buller D.B. , Walkosz B.J. , Berteletti J. , Pagoto S.L. , Bibeau J. , Baker K. , Hillhouse J. , Henry K.L. .
Source: Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 2019-02-20 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2019-02-20 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 30785361
Related Citations

USPSTF Recommendations for Behavioral Counseling for Skin Cancer Prevention: Throwing Shade on UV Radiation.
Authors: Linos E. , Pagoto S. .
Source: Jama Internal Medicine, 2018-03-20 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2018-03-20 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 29558531
Related Citations

Engaging Moms On Teen Indoor Tanning Through Social Media: Protocol Of A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Pagoto S.L. , Baker K. , Griffith J. , Oleski J.L. , Palumbo A. , Walkosz B.J. , Hillhouse J. , Henry K.L. , Buller D.B. .
Source: Jmir Research Protocols, 2016-11-29 00:00:00.0; 5(4), p. e228.
PMID: 27899339
Related Citations



Back to Top