Published on Authors of this article:. Background: Skin cancer affects millions of Americans and is an important focus of disease prevention efforts. Partnering with nonโhealth care practitioners such as massage therapists MTs can reduce the risk of skin cancer. Methods: We adapted the existing educational content on skin cancer for applicability to MTs and strategies from previous research on helping conversations.
We assessed the preliminary efficacy using established self-report surveys at baseline, immediately post training, and at 3 and 6 months post training. Project satisfaction and e-training acceptability were high. Knowledge, personal behaviors skin self-examination, clinical skin examination, sun protection frequency , and practice attitudes appropriateness and comfort with client-focused communication of risk reduction for skin cancer improved significantly and were sustained throughout the study.
Conclusions: The e-training was feasible and could be delivered online successfully to MTs. Participants were highly satisfied with and accepting of the e-training. As such, e-training has potential as an intervention in larger trials with MTs for reducing the risk of skin cancer. Skin cancer, the most common cancer in the United States, poses a serious public health burden.
Over 5. Skin cancer costs exceed billions of dollars annually [ 3 ]. Fortunately, the skin cancer burden can be abated through primary prevention and early detection. Protecting the skin from ultraviolet radiation reduces the risk of skin cancer [ 4 , 5 ]. Early skin cancer detection decreases potential morbidity, mortality, and cost [ 2 , 3 ] and can be carried out with viewable skin assessment VSA by health professionals or with skin self-examination SSE by consumers.
Skin lesions can be assessed using several approaches, one of which is the common asymmetry, border, color, diameter, evolving ABCDE rule [ 7 ]. A helping conversation consists of 4 steps: awareness, understanding, helping, and relating [ 9 ]. Helping conversations are context-specific and thus cost-effective and time efficient [ 8 ]; they have been used for other preventive behaviors [ 8 , 10 ] but not in the context of risk reduction for skin cancer.
