False Narratives in Female Adolescent Skincare

Abstract

Failing to utilize sun-protective behaviors in adolescence is associated with an increased incidence of skin cancer in adulthood. An age-appropriate skincare routine in adolescence emphasizes the daily use of sunscreen; however, persuasive and influential messages from social media promote expensive, unnecessary, and potentially harmful routines and products. Due to developmental age and low e-health literacy levels, adolescents are vulnerable to misinformation. Through the implementation of this pre- and post-test quasi-experimental mixed-method non-control quality improvement project, the author wanted to determine if an educational series, consisting of one in-person and four subsequent virtual sessions, would increase the intent to use sun-protective behaviors, increase e-health literacy, and decrease the intent to use inappropriate skincare routines and products endorsed by social media. The sample consisted of middle and high school adolescents aged 11-18. Although the sample size was small: n=6, limiting most generalizability and statistical significance, there were several significant clinical takeaways following implementation. Within the sample, there was positive behavior change intent with increased sun-protective behaviors and decreased perception of tanned skin as "healthy;" however, results were mixed with self-assessed e-health literacy. In addition, the data also revealed a significant contrast between the concepts of "skincare" and "social media and skincare."