A Randomized Control Trial of Sun Protection Interventions for Operating Engineers

The education intervention will be provided during regularly scheduled safety training
sessions, and the text messages and mailed sun screen (SPF30)interventions will be offered
during the summer when UV rays are at their highest. Inclusion criteria are Operating
Engineers who:1)are greater than 18 years of age; 2) are interested in enrolling in the sun
protection study; 3) own a cell-phone that accepts text messages; and 4) are willing to
share their phone number with the study team. Based on power analysis, 256 subjects are
needed to have 80% power to detect medium sized effects on primary outcomes. Accounting for
a 20% attrition rate, 320 subjects will be recruited. The analyses will include: a) paired
t-tests to determine changes over time (from pre-intervention to post-intervention) in
outcome variables (sunscreen use and burning) separately in the 4 intervention groups, b)
Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RM-ANOVA) to compare the changes in outcomes across
the 4 groups, and c) t-tests on change scores as follow-ups to the RM-ANOVA to determine
exactly which groups differ from each other. Sub-analyses will explore if particular
subgroups of Operating Engineers (e.g., demographic, heath behavior, and job type subgroups)
differ in sunscreen use and sun burning pre-and post-intervention.

Inclusion Criteria:

- greater than 18 years of age

- interested in enrolling in the sun protection study

- owning a cell-phone that accepts text messages

- willing to share their phone number with the study team