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Sun Safe Together: A Digital Skin Cancer Prevention Intervention for Adolescents and Their Parents

A Digital Skin Cancer Prevention Intervention for Adolescents and Their Parents

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07681791
Enrollment
104
Registered
2026-07-02
Start date
2026-08-01
Completion date
2027-12-01
Last updated
2026-08-05

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Skin Cancer Prevention

Keywords

Sun Safety, Teens, Messages, Teen health, Parents, Education

Brief summary

The goal of this pilot clinical trial is to learn if a digital intervention to improve sun safety, Sun Safe Together (SST), is feasible and acceptable to teenagers and their parents.

Detailed description

Melanoma is a leading cause of invasive cancer in teens and young adults aged 15-39. Most skin cancers are preventable with skin protection such as minimizing UVR exposure and wearing protective clothing and sunscreen. However, teens have low levels of sun protection. Thus, interventions targeting skin cancer risk reduction among teens are needed. The proposed Sun Safe Together (SST) intervention is a 12-week program consisting of sun safety and general health messages sent via multimedia messaging service (MMS) to teens and via a private Facebook group for parents. This pilot trial is a single arm test of SST to determine: 1. feasibility of enrolling parent-teen dyads 2. engagement with/acceptability of the intervention via message views and acceptability ratings 3. outcome data collection feasibility (i.e., daily diary, UVR exposure measured by UVR dosimeter) 4. retention rates for teens and parents at 3 and 6 months

Interventions

BEHAVIORALParent Facebook

Parents of teenagers join a private Facebook group where membership, activities, and content are only viewable by invited members. Content related to teen sun safety and general health will be posted for 12 weeks. Research staff will moderate the group.

BEHAVIORALTeen MMS

Teens will receive MMS messages regarding sun safety behaviors and other general health issues for 12 weeks.

Sponsors

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Lead SponsorOTHER
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
CollaboratorNIH

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

Teens and their parents (dyads) will get similar but separate interventions simultaneously.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
13 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

Parents and teens are participating as dyads, meaning both the parent and the teen need to be deemed eligible based on the criteria below to be able to participate. Teens * Must be ages 13-17 years * Live with study parent equal to or greater than half time in US * Have experienced sunburn or indoor tanned in the last year or have a suboptimal sun protection score * Have no personal history of melanoma or severe medical condition that prevents participation * Have access to smartphone * Speak and read English Parents/Guardians * Must be age 18 or older * Live with a teen equal to or greater than half time in US * Have a teen who had experienced sunburn or indoor tanned in the last year or have a suboptimal sun protection score * Have no personal history of melanoma or severe medical condition that prevents participation * Have internet at home, a Facebook account, and be willing to use Facebook daily * Have access to smartphone * Speak and read English

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Feasibility of recruitmentBaselineFeasibility of recruitment will be assessed by the proportion of eligible parent-teen dyads that enroll in the study
Acceptability of MMS interventionImmediately after the interventionItems were adapted from the Acceptability of Intervention and Feasibility of Intervention Measures to obtain participant feedback about the acceptability, feasibility, ease of use, and impact of the intervention. Individual items are rated on a 5-point likert scale from (1) Completely Disagree to (5) Completely Agree. Higher scores indicated greater acceptability.
Engagement with MMS intervention3-monthsProportion of messages viewed will be calculated to describe engagement.
Feasibility of Outcome Data Collection - 7-Day DiariesBaseline, 3-months, 6-monthsProportion of teens who complete 7-day diaries will be calculated.
Feasibility of Outcome Data Collection - UVR DosimeterBaseline, 6 monthsProportion of teens who return UVR dosimeter with usable data will be calculated.
Retention3-months, 6-monthsProportion of enrolled teens who complete surveys at 3- and 6-months will be calculated.

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORCarolyn Heckman, PhD

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORKatie A Devine, PhD

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Aug 6, 2026