Sun Protection of Kidney Transplant Recipients

April 21, 2015 updated by: June Robinson, Northwestern University

Internet-Based Sun Protection Program for Kidney Transplantation Recipients

This study is being done to evaluate the effectiveness of a Sun Protection Strategies internet-based program for kidney transplant recipients. Since the medication taken to preserve the kidney transplant puts kidney transplant recipients at increased risk of developing a sunburn as well a skin cancer, the program will help people learn how to practice effective sun protection for their condition.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Cognitive interviews about an internet-based sun protection strategies program will be performed with up to 45 kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) who have participated in past surveys. A second group of 150 KTRs will be asked to evaluate the internet-based module for the effectiveness of information. A third group of 12 KTRs will be asked to evaluate the internet-based module for usability. A fourth group of 160 KTRs will be asked to take part in a randomized controlled trial evaluating the fully developed internet-based sun protection strategies program.

Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are at risk to develop skin cancer. Adequate sun protection after transplantation can reduce the risk of developing skin cancer. In 2006, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) found that sun protection education delivery and content varied among transplantation centers. Clinicians rarely knew when to initiate education about skin cancer risks and prevention including timing and scope, and rarely demonstrated understanding of the importance of reminders for and repeated education of patients. (National Kidney Foundation 2006) The NKF supported standard, formal, well timed skin cancer prevention information and sending reminders to KTRs at the beginning of summer.

Aims:

  1. To explore culturally sensitive use of terms describing ethnic cultural perceptions of sun burning, pigment darkening after sun exposure and description of skin color by the amount of photoprotective pigment in the skin.
  2. To pilot test the internet-based sun protection brochure with English speaking KTRs representing 3 ethnic groups: White, Black and Hispanic.
  3. To explore understanding of the importance of sun protection and the KTRs' confidence in their being able to practice sun protection.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

335

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 85 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Subjects with a history of kidney transplantation within the last 5 years
  • Speaks English
  • Can see to read
  • Lives in the greater Chicago area and can attend a cognitive interview session
  • 18-85 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable to speak English
  • Cognitive impairment or neurologic disease
  • Dementia or insufficient cognitive skills to follow instructions provided at a sixth grade language level
  • Has had a skin cancer

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sun Protection Education
Distribution of the internet-based sun protection educational program.
Behavioral: Internet-based sun protection education
Prior to summer, KTRs who agree to participate will receive a text message with their access code to the Internet intervention to access from their homes on a personal device. After online completion of baseline assessments, participants will be randomized to receive the intervention or general skin care information (control). Following the initial use, the participants may revisit the Internet intervention on a personal device or at the doctor's office on a tablet PC. Over the next 6 weeks, sun protection text reminders will be sent to intervention KTRs' cell phones and they will respond that they read the message. Control participants will receive text messages about general skin care.
No Intervention: Control
Distribution of general skin care information.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Use of sun protection
Time Frame: 6 weeks
Use of sun protection will be measured using 10 questions about what a person regularly does in summer during a warm sunny day and during a cloudy day regarding: 1) use of sunscreen; 2) wearing hat; 3) shirt with sleeves; 4) sunglasses; and 5) staying in the shade. The scores for these questions will be summed to derive a dichotomous measure of sun protection use (1= use of sun protection often or always; 0 otherwise).
6 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Level of sun burn or skin irritation from the sun
Time Frame: 6 weeks
Three telephone interviews will be done on Mondays after at least 2 holiday weekends in which the weather is reported as sunny or partly sunny by the national weather service (Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day) as well as one sunny non-holiday weekend. The KTR will be asked if they experienced a sunburn or skin irritation. The response will be dichotomous (yes/no).
6 weeks
Forearm skin pigment
Time Frame: 6 weeks
Skin pigment as measured by reflectance spectrophotometry, ranging from limited [225 area-under-the-curve (AUIC)] to dense (75 AUIC).
6 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: June K. Robinson, M.D., Northwestern University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 13, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 17, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

July 20, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 23, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 21, 2015

Last Verified

April 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STU00058220

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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