Hats on Head Start: A A Survey of Sun Protection Behaviors in Head Start and Other Early Childhood Education Programs

August 17, 2017 updated by: June Robinson, Northwestern University

Hats on Head Start: A Survey of Sun Protection Behaviors in Head Start and Other Early Childhood Education Programs

The proposed study will assess the current sun safety policies and practices in programs for young children and to determine the willingness of stakeholders to incorporate more protective measures.

The primary hypothesis is that children in Head Start programs, daycare programs, elementary schools, or summer camps are exposed to significant UV radiation throughout the day, and are not adequately protected with sunscreen, hats, or sun-protective clothing. The secondary hypothesis is that these programs value sun safety as an important health behavior, but probably do not have the funding avilable to make it a priority.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

The study aims are:

  1. To assess current exposure to sun and UV in programs of children participating in an early childhood educational program.
  2. To assess current policies regarding sun protection and sunscreen use in programs for early childhood education.
  3. To assess the current attitudes towards sun safety among caregivers and teachers in programs for early childhood education.
  4. To explore association of sun protective behaviors with risk factors such as socioeconomic status, per student classroom budget, program setting (i.e. urban, suburban, or rural), race/ethnicity, size of school program, school budget for supplies, and ages of children enrolled in program.

The sample of stakeholders, who will be surveyed, is consistent with samples used in our prior research. A sample size of 250 phone interviews will be adequate to show trends in sun safety policies among early education programs. Power analysis is based on the use of sun protection, our primary outcome. Our preliminary data show that 15% of schools almost always or always schedule outdoor activities to avoid times when the sun was at peak intensity. The sample size required to sensitively detect a 20% difference in using sun protection between those that comply with recommendations and those that do not is 250 respondents assuming an alpha < 0.05 and power >= 0.8 in a two-tailed test on a two-group sample. This sample size will adequately power the study for detecting 30% difference in sun protection use between the two groups.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

202

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 Hospital

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 and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Teachers, aides, administrators or staff members at Head Start programs, daycares, camps, or schools.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Someone 18 years of age and older, who is a teacher, administrator, aide, or other staff member of a Head Start program, day care program, camp, or elementary school.
  • Participants agree to a structured phone interview regarding their program's policies for sun safety, their opinions on certain health behaviors, and the demographics of their student population.
  • Participants will be interviewed on the phone and guided through a questionnaire which should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants who do not know their program's procedures for sun protection will not be able to participate, but may transfer the phone call to another colleague who can answer the questions accurately. Participants without the ability to speak in English will be excluded from the study.

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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total daily sun exposure and sunburn of children
Time Frame: 10 minutes
Total sun exposure per day and number of sunburns sustained at Head Start program, daycare, camp, or school
10 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Sun safety policies
Time Frame: 10 minutes
presence of policies in place to protect children from UV exposure e.g. designated time to don sun protective clothing, encouraging parents to apply sunscreen before school, send children with sun hats.
10 minutes

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Demographics
Time Frame: 10 minutes
Demographics of programs contacted e.g. racial breakdown, socioeconomic status of families served, ages of children in program, setting.
10 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: June Robinson, MD, 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 (Actual)

July 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 28, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

July 28, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 23, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 26, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

June 27, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 22, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 17, 2017

Last Verified

August 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STU00205541

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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.

Clinical Trials on Sunburn

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in United Arab Emirates

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe