Sun Exposure and Activities After Skin Cancer: Optimization of mHealth Interventions

Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate 5 different smartphone administered sun protection interventions that aim to reduce unprotected sun exposure in melanoma survivors. Participants are asked to wear an ultraviolet (UV) device and an activity monitor (Actigraph) to measure their daily UV exposure and track their physical activity for three separate assessment weeks and complete daily surveys. After the first assessment week, eligible participants are assigned up to 5 different sun protection interventions that are administered through a smartphone application for 8 weeks. Following 8-week use of the sun protection interventions, participants complete another assessment week. At the end of the assessment week, participants provide feedback on the design and usability of the UV device, smartphone application and each of the sun protection interventions that they experienced. One year later, participants are contacted again to complete a final assessment week.

Conditions

• Melanoma (Skin Cancer)

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

UV Real-Time Alerts

Participants will receive text-based alerts about high-risk sun exposure as assessed by their UV device. If they are assigned this intervention, they will use a UV device.

BEHAVIORAL

Track Your Sun Protection

Participants report their clothing and sunscreen use on a digital avatar each time they go outdoors. If they are assigned this intervention, they will use a UV device.

BEHAVIORAL

Current Conditions

This displays a participant's location's UVR index and notifies them of ultraviolet radiation forecasts for different times throughout the day.

BEHAVIORAL

Health Coaching

Bi-weekly (four times total) a trained health coach will individually call participants to discuss progress towards sun protection goals and provide support and advice. Scheduled calls, pre-interview questions, and goals will be displayed in the app.

BEHAVIORAL

Action Planning

Participants will be instructed on how to set action plans for sun protection and will receive information from a mobile app about setting plans for enacting health behaviors and counteracting barriers.

BEHAVIORAL

Core Components

All participants receive two core components, messages and lessons. Messages delivers two helpful UV protection tips per week and lessons contains 5 UV education courses for participants to read.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

  collaborator NIH

• Huntsman Cancer Institute/ University of Utah

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)

  collaborator NIH

• Northwestern University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nabil Alshurafa, PhD · Northwestern University

• Tammy Stump, PhD · Huntsman Cancer Institute at The University of Utah

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-04-01

Primary Completion

2026-11-30

Completion

2027-09-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations