Skin sun-acne tutorial evaluation among middle- and high-school students in central New Jersey.

BACKGROUND

Because of the perception that a tan is healthy and attractive, it has been difficult to educate adolescents about sun protection.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to examine whether the skin sun-acne tutorial, an hour-long, hands-on educational intervention that combined acne education with sun-protection education, increased knowledge of skin care, sun protection, and acne.

METHODS

In all, 1214 middle- and high-school students were taught, tested, and surveyed. Outcomes were determined based on comparing performance on a pretest and posttest.

RESULTS

All students, regardless of sex, ethnicity, age, or race, improved significantly from their pretest to posttest scores (P < .001).

LIMITATIONS: This study only used one health educator and was restricted to public schools in central New Jersey.

CONCLUSIONS

The skin sun-acne tutorial significantly improved knowledge of skin care including knowledge of sun protection and acne among students of different grades, sexes, ages, ethnicities, and races.